The Life Of
by The Berryson Girls
Summary: Six months later we check in the lives of the Avengers through the eyes of three workers at SHIELD and STARK Industries. And how their potential relationships evolve. / AU after the events of the movie. Not limited to said characters.
1. Jessica Chase

_A potential S.H.I.E.L.D. field agent_

"Just a couple of more tests and training and I can get out there" Jessie thought as she walked down the stairs of the new S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters in the Stark Tower.  
Mr. Stark (we aren't allowed to call him Tony, according to Mr. Fury) was a little hesitant in having SHIELD working in the same place as he did, but he did have enough space and they could manage to pay the rent for the 14 floors and basement training area they would need to occupy.

Ever since the hit the agency took by that alien-god guy several months ago, Agent Hill had started recruiting for new field agents to work for them. Everyone started training and studying different handbooks to get the feel of what it would all be. Some lucky people have had the opportunity to work hand in hand with the "Avengers;" Captain Ame- no, Captain Rogers had been glad to take some people under his wing and teach them hand to hand combat at the training area. Others were being taken by Ms. Romanoff (_mostly guys, funny enough_) in Martial Arts and gun control and even Dr. Banner had taken some people up to his lab (_bunch of ass kissers_) to teach them about some scientific stuff. But Agent Barton was nowhere to be seen, rumors ran that he was in hiding in some far off country because of all the killings he partook when he was under Loki's control, the tow of the deaths taking on him very harshly.

Once Jessie reached the door to the training area she turned on the lights and basked on that amazing room: she never knew why it was all painted black, but it gave it a very cool edge; a big boxing ring in a far corner, the small shooting range not too far from it and opposite it, a very big arching area, probably a request made by the elusive "Hawkeye." She took down her gym bag, took off her jacket and placed them in a bench next to the door and walked over the three areas in question and paced in front of them, deciding which she should take advantage off, since no one was going to use them at midnight (_not that they were really allowed to do, actually_). She was already good at the close combat thing, but she was not so good at either of the weapons.

"The archery thing looks easy enough" she said out loud and walked towards a display of several arrows and bows for the taking: some very high tech and others very rustic like out of a Robin Hood story. She got one from the middle and examined the string between her fingers, it felt strong enough for practice; she took it and several arrows and walked towards the empty shooting range.

She took one arrow and placed the quiver on the floor next to her. She has been told in some practices before that she should be wearing a finger tab to ease the arrow from her fingers into the target, but she wanted to feel the whole experience of the arrow grazing her skin as it eased into whatever she had in front of her. She took the bow and placed the arrow carefully and tensed it up into place, she held her fingers against her cheek and began to aim at the center of the target across from her, took a deep breath and released it. It managed to hit it, but far from the bull's-eye.

Jessie moved her neck from one side to the other, cracking it in the process and shook her arms around, trying to release some of the tension; she took another arrow and did the same process she was used to, but she didn't manage to lodge the arrow right in the middle, neither the third, fourth or fifth arrow she released.

She threw the bow to the ground in frustration and cursed loudly at the black ceiling. "Well, you wouldn't be _that_ pissed off if you managed to do it the right way." Jessie looked around the room, but wasn't able to place the deep voice she just heard. "If you think you are that good then, come prove it. Whoever the fuck you are" she yelled as she threw her arms up and turned around the whole room, daring the person to come forward. She heard a slight thump behind her and she turned around surprised "who the fuck… Oh, wait. You are;" "Yes, I am. And you are not doing it right, um…" he waited for her to tell him his name but she was suddenly star struck: fucking Clint "Hawkeye" Barton was standing in front of her. "Ah. Jessie Chase, my name is Jessie. No, it's actually Jessica but you can call me Jessie" she managed to mutter while staring straight into his eyes. He gave her a slight smile and raised his hand to her, she hesitated for a second "well, nice to meet you. Jessie?" he said, waiting for her answer. She shook it nervously and took a couple of steps back; he walked back to the target and picked up the arrows.

"You are too stressed, Jessie. I can basically see your shoulder muscles tensing into knots when you release the bow" he said, his back facing her. She held her gaze to the floor; she was incredibly embarrassed to be doing a poor job and now she was being scolded by one of the best Agents S.H.I.E.L.D. has. "Have you been down here ever since I came in?" she asked him, a little boldly, she had to add. He looked back at her and gave her a smug smile and walked towards the bow, picking it up. "This has been my hiding place for a while now. I can't get rusty, can I?" He took Jessie's place in front of the target and placed the quiver on his back. He took a bow and set himself in place, standing straight and comfortably. "Just. Watch" he whispered at her.

She walked over to his right and stood not too far from him, she folded her arms in front of her and watched every single movement Clint made: the way he held the arrow in his fingers, how he placed the arrow too close to his cheek, the muscles on his back relaxing and his brow furrowed in concentration. Just a second after, he released the arrow and it carelessly lodged itself in the bull's-eye. He turned around to face her "see, that wasn't so hard, was it?" She laughed lightly "come on, you are the best archer out there, of course it's easy for you." He raised an eyebrow, "well, dear, that's what a lot of practice does to you over the years" he said as he took another arrow from his back and faced the target again.

He took the same position and followed the same process he did earlier and Jessie could not manage not to stare at him. He was dressed all in black: jeans and a t-shirt, that last item particularly hugging his torso well, and making his arms stand out, more than usual. He had the arrow close to his face again; she watched how the muscles on his arms tensed up and had to lick her lips at the sight. He probably had heard that she did so because he turned his face to hers and gave her a devilish smile; "of course he knew I was looking, of course. I'm such an ass" she thought to herself. He never took his eyes of her flushed face and released the arrow and it landed lazily next to the first one.

"So" he took several steps and stood really close to her "how about you give it a go and see how I can help" he handed her the bow and quiver; Jessie had to shake her head to snap back into reality and took them both and stood in front of the target, placing the arrow straight. She tried to mimic the way Clint had so accurately placed the arrow in the target and released the arrow. Not even close. He stood near her, arms crossed and his hand propped up against his chin, tapping his finger against his mouth "hmmm, you are doing everything right, but I still feel you are a little bit tense, little girl." He walked up to her and stood flush behind her, placing his arms behind hers as she was holding the bow up.

Jessie swore she could feel the temperature rise several degrees when she felt his hands holding her arms straight. "Ok, here's what you do" Clint said close to her ear, making her shiver slightly "just think of the arrow as an extension of your body, this knots here" he pressed his hands over her shoulders, the sudden pressure against her tensed muscles making her gasp soundlessly "will go away eventually. Just close your eyes if you need to, but don't stress if you don't get it. God knows it took me a while to be this good" he laughed, and he still was so damn close to her she could feel his breath on her neck. "You're not making this easier on me" she thought to herself. "I'll give it my best, can you?" she motioned for him to move away and he smiled and raised his arms in defeat as he backed away a couple steps from her.

She closed her eyes for a second and thought to herself "an extension of my arm, an extension of my… fuck he even smells so good" she shook her head "ok, focus, Jessica, you need to get this." "I'm not getting any younger here" he said, she opened her eyes and huffed loudly "shut the fuck up. Please, just shut up" she tried to lower her voice. She tried to release the pressure from her shoulders and let go of her fingers and the arrow lodged itself on the target.

Clint clapped slowly as he walked up next to her and padded her in the back, not taking it off place. She smiled at the result and held the bow next to her "well, it seems you do give good advice, Agent Barton." He walked up to the target and took the arrows and walked back to her "I think now we're passed the place where you can call me by my first name" and he winked at her.

Thirty minutes and 20 arrows later, she managed to get the hang of landing them straight in the bull's-eye. She had to hand it to Agent Burton for helping her relax, he started asking about her life: where she came from, why did she come here and why does she want to be a field agent since "it isn't that big of a deal" he said. "If you don't mind me asking" she hesitated for a second, _maybe I shouldn't go there_ "Clint, where did you go the last few months?" He was sitting on the floor, legs extended and propping himself up by his hands, he looked up at her and said "Brazil. _O clima é maravilhoso."_ She raised an eyebrow at him "_Tenho a sensação de que você não está sendo honesto_". He stood up and cleaned himself off "well, well. You been there too?" he smirked, but she sighed and continued aiming at the target "I am a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, after all. I am fluent in 6 languages and have several... Anyways, you are avoiding my question."

He looked down at the floor and ran his hand through his hair "I was here all along. I just. I can't be here. All the looks people give me, like I have done something wrong. And I know I have" he continued, staring at the far wall, like trying to look for an answer there. "Tony gave me a room on the 40th floor and I usually leave at midnight to unwind. Just me, my arrows and my bow."

"You know" she returned to where he stood with her arrows in her hand "it wasn't your fault, you know. All of this, it was that beetle looking guy, Loki's fault." He wasn't returning his gaze to her; he was staring at the plaque close to the door of the training area that read: "In Memory of All Fallen Agents. Your bravery will always be an inspiration to all of us." That's when it hit her. The death of many agents hit S.H.I.E.L.D. very hard and, even if it has been over half a year, some people haven't forgotten about the attack. And it seems, neither can Agent Barton.

They have become acquainted in a matter of minutes but she didn't think she could just go up to him and hug him or tell him it was going to be ok. She didn't know what he had gone through: being taken by Loki, being brainwashed and killing a lot of innocent people. But in the other hand he did manage to save most of New York City from the alien attack. He was, after all, a hero in everyone's eyes. Jessie took her bow and arrow and handed it to him "here, you need this the most. Blow off some steam." He took them and gave her a tiny smile "just" she paused for a second "know it wasn't you. You are a hero, to all of us." She realized she was holding him by his shoulder and he looked down at her hand and back at her face. She took a step back, thinking she did wrong and tried to get her hand away, but he pressed his own against it and muttered "thank you."

She was a little speechless, she didn't know he had a vulnerable side, and it appealed to her even more than he already did. He held her hand for a couple of seconds (_might call it an eternity, actually_) and he coughed and stepped back uncomfortably. "Ah, so, are you not staying? You know, you should practice more. You are a little bit rusty." She hesitated for a second "I don't think so. It's already late and I need to go home. Thanks, for all the help."

Jessie started walking towards the entrance, trying her best not to run back and kiss him. She was able to hear the slight thump of the arrow attaching itself to the target; she looked back at him and sighed "well. At least I can say I met the guy. That would be a cool anecdote" she thought. She bent over to pick up her gym bag and put back her jacket. "Hey. Jessie, wait a second" his voice beckoned behind her. She turned around and saw him standing not too far from her "what's up?" she said, one hand holding the bag and the other against her hip.

"I. Um. I" he mumbled, but this just made her anxious "what is it? Cat got your tongue?" she teased. He started to tap his fingers against his leg, trying to come up with words "I. I wanted," he stayed quiet again. "Seriously, Clint. Just get it over with" she almost screamed, she was getting exasperated. "You know what? I'm just gonna go home now" she turned around and started to walk towards the elevator up the long flight of stairs.

Everything that happened next was just a blur. She felt his hard grip on her arm as he spun her around and kissed her. He crushed his lips against hers and wrapped his arms behind her hips trying to push her closer. She was pleasantly surprised but had to blink twice to process what was happening; she pushed his face away for a second and stared at his blue eyes, which practically were growing with lust at the time "oh, fuck it" she thought and grabbed him by his shirt and pushed him as close as possible and kissed him with the same power he had enforced on her.

Now, he paused for a second "I hope you don't think I'm being to forward here, having just met" he whispered against her lips, the soft touch and his slow breath making her skin crawl "just, shut up." He smiled and kissed her passionately again, pushing her against the door of the training area. Bodies flush against each other, she could feel his heart pounding hard against his chest; his lips tangled around hers as his hands moved up and down her back, not sure of what to do with them.

She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pushed him inside the training area, not parting his lips from hers. He pushed her hard against the wall of the room, a little bit roughly, but she didn't complain at all and just whimpered into his lips. Jessie tugged harshly at his hair, pushing him closer and Clint managed to take her jacket off swiftly. He started to move his lips up to her neck, biting and licking and kissing every single spot available, the grazing of his teeth against her earlobe, his hard breathing against her chest as he traveled down her cleavage.

Her hands traveled down his back and started moving his shirt up and throwing it on a corner somewhere. She pushed him back for a second and gave a quick rundown of how Clint looked this way (_because, let's face it, how many times will you have the chance to see or do Clint Barton?_) She bit her lip and gave a sly smile at him "well, well" she breathed, he raised one eyebrow at her "why do I suddenly feel like a piece of meat?" She laughed and grabbed him by his neck and pushed him against her again, crashing their lips together.

A hard thud broke them from the intense kissing and they stopped, looking up at the entrance of the training area and saw a shadow walking down the stairs (thank God they were a long flight down here, she thought). Clint took her face on his hand and turned Jessie to face him, looking at her eyes for a couple of seconds, kissed her softly on her lips and smiled. "You should" he panted against her lips "check who that it is." He stepped back and motioned her to the door of the training room; she tried to fix her hair and her clothes, took a deep breath and smiled at Clint, who was standing shirtless, arms folded into his chest and propping himself against the wall.

She walked up to the stairs and faced the stranger "Ms. Romanoff, good evening. Can I help you with something?" Jessie placed her hands inside the pockets of her jeans and smiled back at the Agent. "I was wondering why there would be anyone here so late, Ms Chase. Shouldn't you head home? This quarter is off limits at this time" She gave Jessie a cold stare, well, she was used to it, as good as an Agent Natasha Romanoff is, she is quite scary as well. "I "Jessie mumbled "I was just heading out. I needed a little bit of" Natasha interrupted "sure, whatever. Just. Head out and let's not have this happen again." Jessie nodded fast "yes, Agent Romanoff, sure thing." And the red head started walking up the steps again. Jessie waited until the door at the top of the stairs shut itself and ran back inside.

"So, your dear friend wanted to. Clint?" she looked around, the smile on her face fading quickly. No sight of him. She sighed and laughed to herself "well, guess I am going to have this as a funny story to tell in the future." She grabbed her jacket and her back and started heading up the stairs and into the elevator. The doors closed and she sighed, she rested her head against the cool glass of the elevator wall and pressed the button to the lobby. The whole day had been a whirlwind for her: all day at the office and now, her rendezvous with Agent Barton in the training room. She closed her eyes and started to drift off to what had happened minutes ago: how he caught her off guard and kissed her, his hands running up and down her back but mostly, when he took her hand in his, that sheer moment of vulnerability. The ding telling her she was at her destination woke her up and she walked out to the lobby and to the cold New York weather, a smile never leaving her face.

Just five minutes into the walk home, she could feel her cell phone buzz in her jacket. She pulled it out and saw the screen blink with _unknown message_. "We have unfinished business, Jessica. I have my eye on you. –C" She had to read the message about three more times to process what was going on. She smiled at the message and closed it off, placing her phone inside of her leather jacket. She bit her lower lip to keep herself from screaming and started to jump up and down on her place. Never in a million years would she imagine she'd have a man like _that_ all to herself and, for some reason, he wanted her, _HER._ Another buzz interrupted her impromptu celebration and she checked again, another unknown message: "I don't know if I should find your dancing endearing or embarrassing. Just. Don't do it in public. –C" She shut her phone off and looked around, trying to find him. Up in the tops of the surrounding buildings, the people walking down the street a block from her, the people on their cars on their way home. But she wasn't able to see him, well; he was good at being imperceptible after all.

She smiled and started walking. Every step she took she could feel his eyes over her somewhere, just looking after her. And she couldn't help but think she had broken his hard shell and gotten to the real Clint Barton.

_**This is the first out of several chapters that will tell the story of three fictional characters on the Avengers universe. We'll see how far along we'll go from here. R/Rs are always appreciated!**_


	2. Cassidy Ryan

_**AN: Next chapter from second character in the series. Enjoy! (and thanks for the r&r!)**_

The phone rang, the girl tried to ignore it, maybe if she didn't answer whoever was calling would give up and she could keep on sleeping. Sadly the damn thing kept ringing, she could feel the onset of a headache, reluctantly, she stretched her right arm and fumbled on the surface of the desk until she found the device "Yeah?"

"Miss Ryan?"

"Yes, who is this?" she asked sticking her head out her arms and resting her cheek on the cold wood. It took her a couple of seconds to realize were she was: her office. Apparently she had fallen asleep on her desk again.

"It´s Allan Porter, from the art department"

"What can I do for you Mr. Porter?" she yawned and looked at the digital clock on the wall. It was 6:35 in the morning, seriously? Who would call to bother her at 6:35 in the damn morning?

"Well, I want to see if you could come down here to watch the designs the team came up with for the Stark Phone"

"That's the work of the art director Mr. Porter, call him, I am sure he will be delighted to answer his phone" she knew she was acting like a bitch but she had never been a morning person, actually she hated having to wake up before 10 am. Besides, those arts were supposed to be ready yesterday.

"I... I'm sorry, I thought that since you were in the building you could see them yourself. Approve them while you were at it"

"Really, is that so?" she asked sarcastically

"I mean, if you like them that is, if not we will be happy to re-do them"

She sighed "I will be there in 20 minutes" then hung up. She leaned on the chair, stretching the muscles of the back and neck, which apparently were angry with her for having slept in an almost vertical position. The moment she opened her eyes she saw her college degree hanging on the wall "Cassidy Ryan, BA in Advertising with an emphasis on creativity and production". Well, this wasn't what she had expected after graduating from college. A position as junior publicist in some nameless Agency or maybe be part of the Communications Department at some company but never this. She always thought graduating as Summa Cum-Laude was a waste of time, nobody took that serious enough to consider you for a job, and luckily she had been sadly mistaken. It had been that, and the apparent fact that her very average work in art, design and Marketing had put her in the radar for the Stark Industries Scout. Now, 4 years later, thanks to hard work, the retirement of the old Creative Director of the Advertising department and the fact that Tony Stark was a random man, there she was, the new Director, young and under Miss Potts supervision but Director anyways.

Cassidy straightened up, enough of this trip down memory lane, she had work to do. Her eyes fell on the green fish tank on her desk; a Greenish-blue Angel Betta Fish was looking at her "Why is that every time I bring you to the office I end up staying here?" Of course the fish just kept staring at her, or so that was the impression she always had "Fine, I will go get you food".

ooOoo

30 minutes later, she had showered, changed clothes, ran down to the art department and signed the approval for the arts and now she was re-entering the building after running to the pet store two blocks down and stopped at the Starbucks that was next to it. She was riding the elevator, lost in her beverage when the doors opened at the 15th floor and an elegant woman walked in.

"Morning Ms. Potts" Cassidy said

"Morning Ms. Ryan" the woman gave her a once over and smiled "I see you stayed in the office again" Cassidy frowned "You have a bag from the Pet Store, that means you have Phil in your office" Pepper smiled wickedly at that.

Cassidy returned it "I wish" then they both laughed.

Phil the fish had meant to be a joke. It had been a gag gift from Clint Barton when he found out that she and his old handler got along after they had met at one of many of Stark´s parties. Working directly under Pepper Potts had made Cassidy, that when her boss was too busy to deal with anything other than the Company, one of the liaisons between the RP and Communications Department of Stark Industries and SHIELD from the moment Tony Stark started to work as a Consultant. Anyways, according to Barton the fish was supposed to keep her company and remind her of Agent Coulson when the man was out was being all ninja and stuff, because let's face it, Phillip Coulson wasn't relationship material. The thing was that Barton didn't actually know if there was something actually going on between the Agent and her for sure. If she thought about it, there were three people she was sure known about them: Pepper, Director Fury and Natasha Romanoff. Pepper didn't mind as long as she produced, Natasha had made it very clear that she didn't mind either but if Cassidy did something stupid she would kill her, as for the Director of SHIELD, Cassidy wasn't sure what the man thought about it. She supposed Fury had talked with Phil, not that the agent had told her anything but she could bet on it.

"How's the campaign going?" Pepper asked

"Great" the girl said "The final arts are ready; I will deliver them to you this afternoon for you to sign the papers and then send them to the printing house. With that out of the way we can start to worry about the TV and Internet ads. I already hired the filming crew and post-production company, I will leave the cast to the Casting Agency, they did a great job the last time, got the sets sorted, scheduled all the dates for filming. All that is left is for you to decide if there is something on the storyboards you want to change"

The woman hummed as if contemplating the suggestion "I would like to see them once more but I think I don't have any objection or changes."

The rest of the day was like usual: meeting after meeting after meeting and OH! A wild meeting appeared. It was after 7 that Cassidy was able to retreat to the SHEILD cafeteria. It was funny that the best place to hide from the people you work with was in the same building you work in. She sat at a corner table with a cup of coffee and a grilled cheese sandwich and proceeded to read some of the chapters of her Psychology Handbook. It wasn´t until something that seemed to be a popcorn hit her between the eyes that she looked up from her book. Two more followed the first and hit her exactly on the same spot. She let out a tired sigh "Popcorn, seriously Barton?" asked the girl looking on the general direction of the sniper.

"I stole them from some junior agents" Said a voice from behind her. She didn't bothered to turn, Barton used to do that to every single living soul he could find. The man put a cup of coffee in front of her before he sat on the chair across the table.

"It´s weird seeing you up in the land of living" commented Cassidy.

After the incident with Loki and the relocation of the SHIELD headquarters in Stark Tower, Clinton Barton had not been seen very often anymore. He went into missions yes, but it seemed like what the Norse God did to him had fucked him up, more than he already was.

"It´s almost 10pm. Unlike you and some other I can name most people tend to have gone home by now"

Cassidy blinked. Oh lord, was it that late? It has been a miracle no one had called her. She was working on getting a degree on Psychology and the time she had to actually sit down and study was so little it was almost impossible for her to find. Times like that one were very rare "Yeah well, some of us are used to sleep at work."

That made the man laugh "I am sure you do" his expression turned mischievous "And how is Phil?"

Cassidy put her best side grin "Very well thanks."

It was a game they played. He would asked about Phil but would never specify if it was Phil the Fish or Phil the agent, in return she would never clarify who was fine or who was currently sleeping cozily in the bedroom. There were times she asked herself if the damn fish hadn't been part of a very complicated plan so the archer could ask about his former handler's private life without actually raising suspicion instead of a gag gift.

"I am sure he is" they sat there in silence for a while. Cassidy didn't mind, she had hot coffee, a book she needed to memorize and the company of the man wasn't unwelcomed. "I met your roommate"

She looked back at him with a raised eyebrow "And…"

"I am gentleman, I don't kiss and tell"

"Clint" she said in a warning voice. It wasn't like Cassidy had any kind of right to say anything about other people relationships but Jessie was her roommate and friend and she knew the kind of man Barton could be at times. Not that Jessie, a SHIELD Agent in training, couldn't handle the marksman, but Cass couldn't help but care for those she considers her friends, even if you could count them with one hand. "Just, don't do anything stupid"

"She started it" he said defending himself

"And you couldn't say no"

"Pretty much" he smiled at her until they heard footsteps outside on the hall, Cassidy looked at the door and when she turned to Clint, the man was already gone. Everybody in this fucking place was a ninja. She got up, picked up her belongings and left, no use to stay there, besides a good night sleep in her own bed sounds like a wonderful idea. At least until her brain made her stop at the elevator´s door _Some other people_ Clint had said, could it be that he was talking about Phil? Her curiosity won the best of her; she wandered the 45 story halls of the tower until she made it to his office. There was some light filtrating from the crevice under the door. She smiled and knocked, waiting for her agent to acknowledge her.

"Come on in"

She opened the door and pushed just half body into the office "Do I interrupt something important or secret?"

The man looked over to her, a ghost of a smile playing on his lips "Not really. Come in"

She closed the door behind her and walked toward the desk "I could say it is a surprise seeing you here but I would be a lying."

"I could say the same thing" commented the man closing the file he had in his hand and putting it away "You spent the night at your office" he pointed looking at her clothes. The clothes she was wearing were the same she always used when she stayed the night.

"Got caught up on something. Fell asleep on the desk" she put her best puppy eyes before asking "Mind driving me home? I am kind of tired and since Happy drove me here yesterday, after the meeting with Mr. Potts, I don't have my car."

The man gave her a one over before sighing "I could use some sleep too"

She smiled "Great, I will meet you at the parking lot, just let me run up to the office and grab my stuff" she said before leaving not wanting to give the man a chance to change his mind.

Cassidy was giddy with her little victory. Phil was a man that spent most of his time at work or working until the ungodly hours of the night so those times she could made him leave the office were a personal victory. 15 minutes later the doors of the elevator opened at the basement parking lot, a black sedan waiting for her. She got inside and smiled at Coulson as the man drove out the building and into the streets of New York.

"Were you been serious when you said you need to sleep?" she asked, looking out the window trying to make the question as casual as she could. When you sort of date an Agent of a not so secret organization you can never be sure if he is been serious or not. No that Cassidy should worry, if he said not it must be simply because he was actually tired.

"I am afraid so" he answered looking at her by the corner of the eye "Why? Do you have any plans?"

She chuckled "Not really, I guess sleep is the best, for both of us" added Cassidy as Coulson parked the car in front of her building. She unfastened her seatbelt and leaned over to kiss him "But we can think on something for the weekend"

He laughed before kissing her back, this time with a little more passion. After a few seconds they broke apart "Sounds good to me, but I don't make any promises"

"Let´s hope no humanoid giant octopus decides that he hates the water and that Central Park is a nice place to live" joked Cassidy almost breaking into a fit of laughter at the contemplation on the agent´s face. He worked for SHIELD, anything was possible. She kissed that thoughtful expression away and then finally left the car. Coulson waited until she entered the building and then left too.

As Cassidy made her way into the building she let her thoughts drifted. As a simple liaison she only had the lowest of the security clearance in SHIELD, so she wasn't that much aware of what had really happened all those months back, the only thing she knew was that someone, Natasha most likely, sent her a text message saying Agent Coulson of SHIELD was dead, killed in the line of duty. She hadn't been able to do much of course, first because she knew that that message could never come to be known by anyone and second because, even in her grieve, there always was the hope that all that was a lie. It turned out that in fact, Agent Phil Coulson´s death had been nothing more than a façade so the Avengers got the push they need to become a real team. He had come real close to actually dying though so he reminded hidden until his chest injury healed completely and he was fit for duty again.

One day she had walked into Stark Tower and saw Coulson walking down the corridor next to Miss Potts, at that time she hadn't known what to do, she wanted to talk to him, see if he was real or if she had already lost her mind thanks to all the messed up shit she had to come up with on a daily basis. Things had been tense between the two of them.

Cassidy could and did understand the reason behind all the scam but she was not an agent nor had she to be understanding of how Nick Fury´s extremely twisted mind worked. It took them a couple of months to find the time to sit and talk, really talk. In the end, Cassidy accepted the fact that there always was the possibility of death in a near future but also the possibility to actually have a pseudo relationship with the man that had captured her interest years ago.

As she opened the door of her apartment she smiled at no one in particular. All in all, with the job she never thought of having, the pseudo boyfriend no one could know about but probably did anyways, she really loved her current life.


	3. Elizabeth Morgan

It had being a hard week for her, the time she was supposed to spend looking for an apartment she actually spent it working late in the small company she was hired almost a three years ago. Her time to find a new apartment was almost up and she was starting to wonder if she'd have to go back and live with her parents unless she found a new apartment in two days.

The sweet landlady passed away and her daughter decided to sell the apartment building giving the tenants a two week notice because "I need to sell soon and God knows you are not paying enough rent for me to consider giving you more time." If finding that apartment had being a challenge and she had months to do so, how was she supposed to find a new one in two weeks?

It was lunch time and she was in a small café near the office, looking in the newspaper for some apartment options when the waitress approached her with a coffee pot.

"Do you want some more coffee?" her smiling face almost erased the frown on hers.

"Yes, please." She smiled, but still pinched the bride of her nose.

"I don't want to appear nosy, but are you worried about something?"

"No, that's ok. I just have two more days to find a new place to live."

"Well, we do have some adds on the wall, don't forget to check those." She smiled and walked over to another table.

She finished her coffee and walked over to the wall, maybe there was something there, she browsed over them and it seemed nothing worked for her; she leaned over on board and felt something underneath the sheet of paper she pressed her forehead on.

A smile appeared on her lips after reading the information and taking paper from the board she called the number listed there.

It was almost 7pm when she pressed the button and waited until she was buzzed in; she tried to calm down during the short elevator ride before knocking on the door with number 3.

She looked around and noticed how in truth there was only one apartment per floor, not that it was all that weird, but she'd had enough disappointments the first time she looked for an apartment; she didn't mind sharing a wall with another apartment like she did now, but the idea of having a whole floor was always tempting.

The door opened, a light brown haired girl motioned her in and smiled warmly.

"Hello!" she took the hand that was offered to her. "I'm Jessica."

"I'm Cassidy." A very serious looking girl said and she shook her hand too.

"Nice to meet you, my name is Elizabeth." She sat down in the sofa she was shown to and looked around. "This is a great place."

"Well, it certainly needs more décor, but we just moved in and we're not really here most of the time." Jessica said.

"I'm sorry to be blunt, but I need to go to a meeting…" Cassidy said with a smile. "We're not here most of the time, like Jessie just said, but in all honesty our schedules are hectic, so we might drop by or leave for days at time."

"Oh, I'm fine with it. I'm usually an indoors person, most of the time I stay in my room and go out for breakfast, lunch and dinner or I just skip one of those."

"You know how to cook?" Jessie asked pleased. "Cuz most of the time we just order in and I'm sure the kitchen will appreciate the attention."

"Well, I'm no chef, but I'd be happy to cook if you guys are too busy." She smiled. "And I'm always glad to try new recipes."

"You told me over the phone that you have a bachelor's degree in PR?" Jessica's hazel green eyes looked at her.

"Yes, but that's my second one. I also studied Journalism, Political Science and International Relations." Elizabeth blushed and added "I also speak 7 languages." Cassidy and Jessie looked at each other with a meaningful look.

"Any habits we should know about?" Jessie asked and showed her the cigarette box on the table. "I smoke."

"Outside, Jessie." Cassidy placed her hand over Jessie's when she tried to light one and pointed to the balcony. "I like to drink a lot of coffee, so coffee here it's mandatory."

"Well, I do like to smoke once in a while. I don't really drink a lot, but… mmm… I do like to sing out loud sometimes and I prefer tea." She smiled apologetically.

"Well, here's the amount of money you'd have to pay" Cassidy said with a warm smile and slipped a piece of paper on the coffee table. "I wish I could stay, but have to go now… My boss doesn't like to wait." She stood up, grabbed her coat and walked to the door. "Ask her." And she left.

Elizabeth and Jessie waved to Cassidy as she closed the door.

"Ask me what?"

"Where are you working right now?" Jessica asked after stashing the cigarette box in her front blouse pocket.

"I'm in the communications department of a small company. I mostly do PR stuff."

"There's an opening at the company we both work for, as an assistant to someone in the higher levels. Maybe you should give it a shot. Here's the number."

"Wait… is that a yes to me moving in?" Elizabeth smiled hopefully when Jessie gave her a small piece of paper with a number written on it.

"That's a: 'welcome to your new apartment'. Let me show you your room."

After thanking Jessica many times and asking her to tell Cassidy the same, Elizabeth left in a hurry to pack her stuff even if it took her all night, find a place to store the thing she wouldn't need.

Jessie waved at her as she turned the corner and hailed a cab, she left the cigarette in her lips and took out her phone and pressed number 3 in her speed dial.

"Hi! She already signed the contract. And I told her about the position and she's going to call first thing tomorrow; tell your boss that her file would be on her desk tomorrow afternoon."

Elizabeth got to her current apartment, changed into something more comfortable and started packing and throwing things out. Singing out loud she noticed how something so small like a simple phone call changed her life, new apartment, roommates and maybe a new job.


	4. View From The Top

_**A/N: Hey guys… I cannot begin to thank you enough for your reviews! Keep them coming. Also wanted to let you guys know that we're going to intricate each story like we've done so far. Hope you like it… Before I forget, warning… Slight smut on this chapter… **_

It had been over a week since her encounter with _him._ She couldn't just go and tell Cassidy or Ellie all about it, _and how much she wanted to tell them_, but it was best for her and for Clint that nobody knew about what they got themselves into, even if it was one time.

The whole time she had been at work that week she would pay even more attention to her surroundings. She would make sure her hair was coiffed enough and that her suit was impeccable, because she knew there was a slight chance he was watching her. She even managed to sneak down to the training area on Thursday night, but he didn't make an appearance. But that next Friday was a different story; no, she had not seen him at all, but when she came back from her coffee break late in the afternoon, she was greeted by a small white cardboard box in her desk. Jessie turned around on her heels and looked for the culprit, but the floor was half empty and the other half was pouring over their computers on some work assignment.

Jessie sat down on her chair and she ran her fingers through the small box and examined it, wondering what it contained and who the hell left it there. She pulled the corners of the lid and opened the box to find a black, glossy cell phone. The sudden vibration of the phone startled Jessie and the box nearly fell from her hands. She looked at the screen where the message _incoming call_ kept blinking at her, once, twice. She pressed the incoming button and held it next to her ear.

"Why are you so jumpy?" The unknown voice asked her. She swallowed hard, thinking she might be hallucinating (_it's not him, it isn't…)_

"Who is this?"

"Come on. I said I was going to keep an eye on you. Am I that forgettable?"

If this is what it feels to have your heart skip a beat, then Jessie was sure it just skipped like a hundred of them.

"No. Of course you aren't. I just…" What can she say, that she has thought about him every second of the last few days? That he had been lurking her dreams, finishing what they weren't able to continue.

He laughed, very amused at her reaction. It made Jessie shiver from head to toe.

"By the way, I like how you let your hair down. It makes you look even better." She unconsciously touched her hair but it was set up in a high ponytail. "Wait. I'm not… Well, not today."

"As I said before, I haven't set my sight off you. Jessica Chase, Scorpio, 27, youngest out of five daughters…"

"Did you call me to creep me out or do you really want something, Agent Barton?"

"I told you to call me Clint. But, I have to admit, I like how that rolls out of your mouth, Jessie."

She was sure she heard him smirk when she didn't answer. As exasperated he made her, she kinda liked it. "So, _Clint._ Why do I have a new cell phone?"

"I want to play a game with you"

"I am not very fond of games, Ag… Clint" she was starting to bite her finger, anxiously.

"Well, this you might like. It's like a scavenger hunt of some sort. Starting with the picture I left in this phone. Follow it and see where it leads."

"And why would I want to do that?"

"Come on, Jess" (_oh God, he called me Jess._) "You're no fun. And stop biting your nail, it's a nasty habit."

She looked down at her hand and placed it on her lap. He was doing it again, he was watching her and she had no idea where he was. It was frustrating but alluring in some way. "Ok, fine. I'll play your game. And how do I know what to do next?_"_

"I'll let you know. Now, get your pretty little butt out off the chair and go get ready."

"You need to stop being so bossy, Clint."

"You need to start living a little, Jess." She started to move around on her chair as she thought about Clint's suggestion. She was never the one to go out and explore when she was little, she liked to sit down and read classic tales. She was not the kind to go out on adventures. But somehow, even if they had known each other not that much (_well, he apparently had investigated me, so I guess he does now me a little)_ she knew she could trust him.

"Ok. Should I start now, because I think I might need to go home and change if you are...?"

"Open the bottom drawer to your left." She looked down at the desk and opened the drawer with her foot. A black duffle bag with the S.H.I.E.L.D logo, which hadn't been there several minutes ago, was half way opened.

"I am not going to wear a leather jumpsuit, Clint"

He sighed "well, as much as I would love to see you in one of those, it's not a jumpsuit, Jessica. I had Cassidy drop this off for you at your request."

She gasped, _how the hell did he tell Cassie about this? _He gave her a shaky laugh, reading her mind. "Relax. _You_ just left her a note to do that favor for you. Now" he could hear him clap his hands "chop, chop, Jess. We got a long night ahead of us."

Then the line went dead. She placed the phone on her desk and took out the duffle bag and her purse. She grabbed her own phone and started to text Cassie and Ellie: "_Will be out tonight. Don't wait up."_

After changing into more comfortable clothes and leaving the duffle bag back in her desk she headed down and out of the STARK tower. She took a deep breath "ok, let's see what you have planned" she though as she opened her phone; she browsed through the pictures folder and found the picture of the New York Public Library and she started to make way to her first destination.

It was almost near dusk as she arrived at the Library. There were people sitting in the steps drinking coffee, girls talking loudly amongst themselves and business men on their cell phones, but yet, no sight of the archer. She felt her phone vibrate on her purse and saw an unread text message: _find the book The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood and buy it._ She started replying quickly "_Very cute, Clint. What next?"_ She scanned through the book salesmen around the block, trying to analyze who would be the safest bet, then, another text message "_Do it and I'll tell you. I see you fidgeting there and doing no effort in finding it."_ She closed the phone and sighed, what the hell did she get herself into.

It took Jessie a while to find it, since only one stand had one copy left which, mysteriously enough had been saved up to sell it today. She got the old worn out copy of the book and examined the binding with her fingers and opened it to browse through it, the smell of mustiness and a hint of vanilla tickling her nose, in a nice way. She found a handwritten note in the middle of the book "_this book belongs to a very angst man sitting in a bench at Bryant Park; return it to him, if you will."_

She took a deep breath and ran her fingers through her hair "how the hell am I going to find a guy in there? It's filled with people!" Her phone buzzed, Jessie took it out and opened the text message "_don't worry. It will be easy to spot him."_ He kept doing that, like he was reading her mind and it was starting to freak her out a bit.

Jessie started walking towards the park and scanned over the lot of people to find the mysterious angsty man she had to give the book to. She ran over every people sitting on the benches along the edges of the park and saw one sitting by himself, dressed in an awful clown costume and smoking a cigarette, which, she was sure he was not allowed to do there. "Interesting choice, Clint."

She walked up to the man and held her purse close to her. "So, I am supposed to give this to you" and handed him the book. The burly man stood up and flicked the cigarette on the ground, stamping it with his foot. "Yeah, pretty girl." He scanned her over from head to toe, which made her take a step back (_next time I see Clint, I'll kill him.)_ "Ah, so… You have to give me something back, or?" The guy winked at her while he licked his lips; he started to look inside a bag he had next to him. She stared tapping her foot anxiously at him; he pulled out a white envelope and handed it to her. "So, what are you doing later, beautiful?" She smiled shyly and walked away from him as fast as she could.

Jessie got out the phone and sent a message "_You are dead, Hawkeye. DEAD!"_ Seconds later it vibrated on her hand "_that had to be the funniest things I've ever seen, Jess. Still laughing right now. Anyways, opened it yet?"_ She had the white envelope between her fingers and took it up to her eyes, examining it. She opened the envelope and found a small, printed out, gift card with a pretty blue eyed doll "_Dear Jessica, You have received an FAO Schwarz® eGift Card from: The Most Handsome, Skillful Man You Have Ever Met."_

She stood in front of the toy store and took a deep breath as she walked in; the card had now prompted her to go and buy herself any toy she wanted (_$10, really?)_ Jessie walked in and gasped in amazement, she always wanted to come in but since she had arrived in New York, from Minnesota, barely two years ago and started working at S.H.I.E.L.D., she hadn't had the time to really explore the city, specially this store. It has been like a childhood dream of hers (_wait, did he… No he couldn't have. It's not even.)_

Rows and rows of toys: dolls, cars, legos and video games. It was kind of overwhelming for Jess, she wanted to pick them up and take them home with her; besides, everything looked incredibly expensive. Just as she was playing around with the keys on a small wooden piano, she felt her phone vibrate. "_I know you are probably having fun. But it's kinda late and I am bored."_ She smiled at his message and texted back "_You know you were risking me staying here all night, Clint. And I might just think I could."_ Seconds later she got a response "_Seriously, just meet me now. I want to see you. Just one more clue left."_ She blushed and smiled at the screen, it was just hard to believe a guy like him will give her the time of day.

It took her about five more minutes to choose the toy and she was sure Clint would probably have a laugh. She handed the cashier, Madison, according to her name tag, the gift card and waited for her to process it, she saw the writing on the card and looked back at Jessie and smiled "Quite a catch you got yourself there"she said as she placed the toy inside a red plastic bag. "Well, we'll see about that. There isn't… Anything there yet" she mumbled, the cashier handed Jessie the bag and she started walking to the door. "Miss, you need to take this too" Madison said from behind the counter. The woman was tapping her fingers against the register as she waited for Jess to turn around. Jessie looked puzzled at the woman "wait, what?" The cashier handed her a ticket and Jess looked at her, trying to ask a question Madison started to answer "they told me to give this to you. Don't know who it was, just doing as I was told."

Jessica walked outside and held the red bag in her hand as she read the ticket "_West Midtown Ferry to Exchange Place. One way. 7pm"_ Where the hell was he sending her? She checked her wrist watch, realizing she has about less than 30 minutes if she wants to get there in time. It's a good thing she is in good shape, she might make a run for it.

"Well, enough time to spare" Jess took a deep breath as she walked to the front of the ferry. Night was already setting on the New York skyline and it was a beautiful sight. She leaned against one of the rails and relaxed; the warm breeze calming her flushed face. She took a deep breath and smelled… "Wait, I know that smell." She looked to her left with the corner of her eye and saw two familiar faces laughing and talking excitedly. She took out her own phone and dialed.

The tone rang once, twice. "Cassidy Ryan here, wait. Hey Jess"

"Where are you right now?"

Her friend hesitated for a second "I'm. Ah, I'm going out to dinner with Ellie."

Jessie laughed softly, she's hiding it. But knowing the whole story about Agent Coulson, it made incredible sense.

"Aha. Sure, have fun then. Say hi to Agent Coulson for me then." The line fell silent for a second.

"Wait, how did you?"

"Look to your far right" Jessica waved her hand softly at Cassidy and gave her a wink.

Cassidy blushed and turned away "We'll talk later. Anyway, you are far from home as well. Where are you going?"

"As you said, _we'll talk later"_ she whispered to the phone and hung up and walked to the other side of the runway. I might as well give the cute couple some privacy.

She hugged her jacket tightly as she walked into the strange neighborhood and waited for Clint to call her.

Clouds started to slowly creep up in the sky and a chilly wind made her shiver just a bit. She sat on a bench near a bus stop and took Clint's phone out. She toyed with it for a while thinking maybe it would make time go faster but every second that passed seemed like an eternity to her.

"Maybe I should try and call…" she opened the phone and her finger hovered over the dial button "No, just, I shouldn't. That would seem a little too desperate" she thought and closed the phone shut. But it seems that he was reading her mind (_again)_ as the phone vibrated on her hand.

"Had fun tonight?"

" Well, if you consider fun as running all around Manhattan and being stranded without a clue of where I am, then yeah, I guess" Clint laughed, clearly amused.

The line went quiet for a couple of second and all Jess could hear was Clint's heavy breathing and it sure made her blush.

"Clint?"

"Um, yeah?"

"What am I doing here?"

"Oh, right" he muttered. "Look to your right"

"Alright" Jess turned around and saw a line of office buildings lining through the edge of the river. "Now what?"

"Little impatient, are we? Can't wait to see me, I can tell" his voice was basically a growl now and she could swear her skin started to crawl. She bit her lip and just waited for him to continue.

"That last building. Meet me at the roof."

"Agent Barton, are you making me break into a building? That's breaking the law, you know."

He laughed and continued, his voice still low "the question is, _Agent Chase_, are you willing to do it?" And the line went dead.

It took Jessica about 5 minutes to pick the lock in the back door of the worn out building, 30 flights of stairs (_couldn't choose a lower story building, couldn't you?)_ and almost kicking the roof's main door off in order to get in. But Barton wasn't there; she walked over the edge of the building, dropped down her things and held her breath, never in her life had she had the chance to see the Manhattan skyline like so: the lights in all the buildings and how it made it look so beautiful, as artificial as it might be and she leaned into the edge of the building and just marveled at the view.

She could hear steps coming up behind her and she tensed up, her heart started beating fast and she slowly took out the small knife she hid in one of her pocket jackets and turned around to face the stranger.

"Whoa, there, Jess. You are far too jumpy" Clint held his hands up, one hand holding a bottle.

She was sure her heart didn't stop beating fast when she saw him "You fucking scared me, Barton" she replied as she put her knife back.

He laughed softly and started to uncap the bottle in his hands. "How about a drink? Maybe help you relax a little" he handed the bottle to her, never taking his gaze off her and she took a nervous step forward and took the bottle in her hand, and she was sure his fingers brushed up to hers. She took one long gulp and scrunched her face, she hated whiskey and this particular one, wasn't any better. Clint laughed at the gesture "can't take whiskey, little girl?" and he gave her a defiant stare and she just raised her eyebrow and said "bottoms up, Clint" and took a deeper gulp of the amber drink.

She handed him the bottle and faced the skyline again "Do you come here often?"

He walked up and stood right next to her, his arm brushing against her "I try to escape Tony and Phil sometimes. And this" he extended his arms out to the city "is where I come to." She looked at him and could see that sense of freedom when he was up high, like it was his realm, like his comfort zone. A small smile formed in his lips and laughed.

"Why are you staring at me, Jess?" he broke her thoughts.

She bit the inside of her cheek, trying to come up with a better answer than: _you are just so fucking beautiful I can't help myself._ "I was wondering, why did you have me run around New York? Is this your idea of a first date?"

He raised an eyebrow and looked back at her, his blue eyes sparkling a bit. "Well" he rubbed the back of his neck with his hand "the first part was basically for me, I loved seeing you squirm." He gave her a wide smile "and the last ones, that's basically for you. I knew you hadn't properly seen New York nor had the chance to go into that toy store."

Jessie smiled at him, so he _actually_ sent her there just because of her, and, as creepy as he knows that much about her, she loved it. "Well" she put her hand on top of his, which rested lazily on top of the rail "thanks. For that" and squeezed it hard.

Lazy drops of water started to fall down slowly and they both looked up at the sky, dark clouds looming on top of them. And then the rain started to quickly increase by the second. Clint took her hand and started to drag her towards the main door but she froze on her spot. He looked back at her for a second, and the rain started to damp her hair. "So, I take you are a fan of pneumonia?" he yelled at her, the rain getting louder.

Jess walked over to Clint and took his face in her hands and kissed him. He placed one arm against her back and pushed her flush against him. Clint turned her around on the spot and walked her over against the wall next to the door and pinned her against it. He started to kiss up her neck hungrily as she tried to pick up his wet shirt and pull it off from him.

In one swift movement he took it off and threw it who knows where. Clint hooked his fingers on the collar of her jacket and started to take it off slowly, kissing every visible patch of skin on her shoulders and flushed chest. She started to breath heavily, consumed by the feeling of his warm lips, the cold drops of rain against her hot flesh.

"I wanted to do this for so long" he whispered in her ear, his breath tickling her skin and making her fingernails press down hard in his back. He made way back to her lips as she pushed her hips against his, making the friction unbearable. He lowered his hand and unbuttoned her jeans, his fingers taking off the layers of fabric from her.

He took her leg and hitched it up against his hip, making her giggle. He managed to work down the button and zipper of his jeans and looked straight into her eyes. "Just… Just do it" she whispered against his ear. The sheer sultriness of Jess' voice pushed him on edge as he let himself into her, making her bite his lip hard. He thrusted into her slowly, every push making her go over the edge.

"I know you can do better than that, _Agent Barton" _she smirked as she raised her eyebrow playfully. He took her other leg and prompted it against his waist and pushed her hard against the wall. He leaned his head against hers and whispered "you have no idea who you are messing with, little girl" and started to push himself harder and faster into her.

Jessie dug her fingernails in Clint's back as he pushed harder, the hard wall aching on her back, but right now, that did not matter. She pressed her hands against the low of his back, edging him on. His hands on her hips, pressing them against him with every thrust. She could feel herself at the edge, as he started to increase his pace. She pressed her head against the wall once her orgasm hit her, closing her eyes and screaming loudly. He slowed his pace and looked at Jess, watching her writhe and ride it out. She smiled and opened her eyes, looking at the lust blown eyes of the archer.

She bit her lip and tangled her fingers in his hair, kissing him hard and rolling her hips on him. He quickened his pace and gasped into her lips, coming seconds after. She pet his hair as he rested his forehead on her shoulder, letting him ride the orgasm out.

He pressed his forehead against hers and smiled. The rain had increased in the last few minutes (not that either of them noticed) and it soaked them completely. He kissed her softly and took her hand in his.

"Well, that was different" he whispered. She looked straight at her eyes and ran her fingers through his damp hair "good different or bad different?"

They both laughed at the question. Even if it had taken long enough, the wait was worth it. The gift card, the view on the roof top and the rain had made the moment even better than Jessie pictured (oh, _right, the gift_.)

She let him go and set her clothes straight and ran directly to where she had put her purse and the now ruined red bag. "What are you doing?" he turned around to face her, a puzzled look in his face.

Jessica opened the gift bag and took out the big toy box and walked back towards Clint. "I thought you might like this" and handed him the present, a silly grin forming in her face.

He took the box and laughed "really? A Captain America bobble head? No Hawkeye one?" He leaned to kiss her "I'll give this to Steve; he'll have a good laugh over it."

He hugged her as the rain started to pound even harder. "So, anything else I need to run out and find?" she said, pressed against his chest. He kissed the top of her head and she looked up at him.

"Let's just stay here for a while."

"Really? Are you a fan of pneumonia too, Clint?"

He smirked and took her hand and guided her back to the wall. He sat down and motioned her to sit down with him "That would keep me out of work for a couple of days and God knows I need to rest."

She sat next to him and rested her head on his shoulder. He carefully placed his arm around her frame and held her close. The only thing they needed right now was the rain and the Manhattan skyline.


	5. Time Off

"I still can´t believe it" Coulson said on the other side of the line.

Cassidy sat at her desk as per usual, working on the final Marketing Brief for the Stark phone campaign she had to present to Pepper, so she had the agent on speaker.

"I was kidding" she said, her voice laced with humor "I honesty had no idea humanoid giant octopuses actually exist"

And really, she didn't. Last weekend they had manage to make some space to spend Saturday night and Sunday at Phil's apartment but out of the blue a giant humanoid octopus decided that Central Park looked like a nice place to live. So their weekend had gone downhill from there.

"I swear if it wasn't that it would have been impossible for you to fool the tests SHIELD put you through when you joined I would have sworn you are a Seer"

"Well, anything is possible and if I really were a Seer, believe me I would find a more pleasurable use for my gift than predicting catastrophes that would fuck my time with you" she commented typing the final details in the presentation and saving the file "At least I get to spend the weekend with one Phil" the groan that came from the other side made her smile.

"I should kill Barton for that" the agent said

"Hey, don't mess with Phil, Coulson." She teased. She knew how much the man disliked the living joke the fish represented but also knew how much she adored the little thing so he tend to simply snarl at the fish, and occasionally at Barton, when he saw them.

"That´s just wrong Miss Ryan"

"But you like me anyways"

"That, I do"

There was a knock on her door before a junior assistant entered her office "Miss Ryan, Director Potts is asking for the presentation. She has a board meeting and needs to leave in 30 minutes."

"Tell her I am on my way" the guy left closing the door behind him "I have to go" she said to her agent printing a copy of her file and sending another to her Stark Tablet "So, see you around at some point this month I guess"

"All right, I have to go too. By the way, are you free tonight?" the man asked all of sudden

Cassidy stared at her desk phone "If everything goes well with the presentation, yes."

"No evil humanoid attack prediction? Good, I´ll wait for you at the parking lot around 6" he said and he hung-up.

The publicist smiled, she loved the way he asked her out at the same time he made fun of her "Head on the game Ryan, you have work to do".

ooOoo

At some point that afternoon, Jessie sent her a text message asking her to deliver a duffle bag, which conveniently was on the trunk of her car, to her desk down at SHIELD. She did as she was told, wondering why the girl couldn't just get it by herself. After that, she took the time of her coffee break to drive back to her apartment and pick up some clothes. She didn't fancy spending a night out wearing her work clothes.

The rest of the day went well, no sudden crisis, Miss Potts was on a meeting overseas and Cassidy made very clear that unless the whole department of Communications was about to crumble, no one outside of Director Potts or Mr. Stark could bother her after 5 pm and the next morning. And so, dressed in a simple black dress, her ever present deep purple long coat and high heels she got down to the underground parking lot. Again, the moment the doors opened there was a black car waiting for her.

"Are you going to tell me where are you taking me?" they had been driving for about half an hour now, and Phil hadn't told her a thing "Who did you have to bribe to get the night off?" she teased knowing he wasn't going to answer her first question.

"I can have time off, you know?" he said, the corner of his lips moved a little at her incredulous expression "I actually left a bottle of scotch for someone in the upper levels and that was it."

"You made someone do your dirty work, I like it" Cassidy said, resting her hand on his thigh

"Just the work, the dirty part I like to do it myself"

"Promises, promises"

They park, 10 minutes later, near to the Hudson. They got out of the car; Coulson took Cassidy´s hand and guided her to their destination. It was a chilly, humid late September night, so Cassidy took that opportunity to get as close as she could to Phil to stay warm, he was wrapped in a big, black cashmere coat, but if she had to be honest with herself she could think of a few other activities that involved less to no clothing and would also keep them warm.

She had to make a great effort not to tackle him to the ground and eat him right there and then: he took her out for dinner on the Ferry. Cassidy Ryan was an easy going girl: she loved rainy days, cold weather; to eat pasta, she drank coffee as if it was the elixir of life and of course she loved to take the Ferry.

"God, I can´t believe you brought me here" she said as they boarded the boat and headed to a table in the private areas. The tables were usually located on the outside but because of the rainy weather they were secured on the inside of the cabin. Coulson placed their food orders and asked for a bottle of wine. The food was going to take about 20 minutes so they took their glasses, full of wine, outside to talk while they waited.

"So I presume you liked the surprise" the agent commented as he leaned against the metal rail.

She sipped her wine, a small smile on her lips "You know I do". Cassidy let her glass over the rail, took his face in her hands and placed a kiss on his lips. It was meant to be a chaste kiss but he seemed to have other ideas as he slid his arm around her waist and drew her body against his. She let him take control of the situation.

Because of the "secret status" of their relationship they didn't show much affection toward one another in public, light kisses and holding hands was ok but this was once in a very while. It wasn't that any of them was ashamed of what they had; God knew if it was up to Cassidy she would have staked a claim on the agent on top of the Stark tower months ago but the man, due to his nature, was a very reserved person. Not that she cared, as long as he wanted her he could tell no other soul in the world and she would be ok with it. Besides, if you wanted to rule junior agents with fear you can´t just let them know you are kind of a romantic guy.

So Cassidy took those rare moments for what they were: fucking awesome.

She circled his neck with her arms and let her fingers comb the short hair at the base of his neck, the soft noise he let out made her smile in the kiss

"You are evil" he said with short breath

She giggled "You started it" at that moment her phone rang. She wasn't going to answer it, just looked at the name on the screen to know who she was going to need to kick on Monday until she saw Jessie´s name flashed. She kissed Phil again, quickly this time before answering "Cassidy Ryan here. Hey Jess" she greeted as Phil let go of her so she could talked to her roommate in peace.

"_Where are you right now?"_

Cassidy hesitated for a second "I'm. Mmh, I'm going out to dinner with Ellie." She lied.

_Jessie laughed softly, as if she knew she was lying. _"_Aha. Sure, have fun then. Say hi to Agent Coulson for me then." _

Cassidy was dumbstruck for a second "Wait, how did you?"

"_Look to your far right" _Jessica waved her hand softly at Cassidy and gave her a wink.

Cassidy blushed and turned away "We'll talk later. Anyway, you are far from home as well. Where are you going?"

"_As you said, we'll talk later" she whispered to the phone and hung up and walked to the other side of the runway_. Cassidy watcher until the girl was nowhere in sight. Oh God, that was not good, now she was going to have to talk with Jess and threatened the girl with hell and death so she didn't mention anything to anyone.

"You ok?" Phil asked looking at her with concern

She just smiled, putting the phone away "Yes, it was nothing" she took his face in her hands again "Now Agent, I'm am starving"

He just looked at her for a few more seconds before rolling his eyes "Let´s get you something to eat and later we can do something about that hunger of yours" he said with a sly smile on his face

Cassidy blushed but purred "Is that a promise?"

"You can bet it is"

They re-enter the cabin, the table was all set: two plates of Rigatoni Al Pomodoro, wine, garlic bread, and green salad. Italian, her favorite kind of food. They ate, talked about unimportant topics: the weather, the last appearance of Tony Stark in the tabloids, when would be the day that Pepper Potts finally decide that his boss was mad and would run through the back door or when would Fury finally snap and kill everyone. In the middle of dessert, fruit tart, Phil's favorite, the looks Cassidy was sending the agent made the man wonder if the people around them could see them.

"Stop it" he said, finally finishing his food

She leaned back in her chair, still drinking wine, and gave him an innocent smile "Stop what?"

"Cassidy" he said in a patronizing voice "We are in a public place"

"Take me home then" answered the girl with the same innocent expression

Phil grabbed the bridge of his nose, "You're hopeless." Still, he got up and offered his hand to the girl. They left the boat and were on their way to the car when large raindrops began to fall. The rain was so strong and unexpectedly that by the time took refuge inside the car, they both were drenched. He drove back to his place, mostly because it was the nearest and he wasn't going to risk getting pneumonia.

Phil's home was not big: a simple apartment with 1 room, 2 bathrooms, living room and kitchenette. The place looked like something out of a catalog of model apartments, only the necessary furniture, and no photo on the walls or the coffee table. He didn't spend much time there anyways.

Cassidy used the shower in the room first while the agent was making coffee in the kitchen. _"Spoilsport"_ thought the girl. Because she hadn't thought about bringing extra clothes out of the ones she planned to use the next day, Phil left her black shirt and shorts on the bed.

Once she was done, the man left her a cup of hot coffee over the table as he hit the shower next. Cassidy thought about watching some TV, but reality shows were not exactly her thing. Phil should get some help about that little obsession of his. She heard the water running still and decided to wait for the man to finish in there. Hell, they were on a date and she had been waiting all day to just strip him out of his clothes and have her way with him since the last week.

She didn't have to wait much though.

The moment the man stepped of the bathroom with just a towel riding low on his hips Cassidy couldn't kept her eyes from traveling to that wet chocolate hair to his jaw line, his broad shoulders, his torso which shone through the droplets that still remained on his skin.

The girl bit her lip thinking only on the urge she had of sliding her hands down on that abdomen and below the cloth, along the lines of chocolate brown hair that was lost in his crotch.

Phil smiled slyly; he could not keep his blood to redirect toward the center of his body. The look of wonder and hunger in those hazel eyes made his body tremble with anticipation. He shortened the distance between them, held her by the neck and devoured her mouth.

Cassidy melted against his body the moment he plucked his tongue into her mouth. And this was why she loved this man, he was a dichotomy: cool and composed in the field but passion in the bedroom.

She smiled at the feel of those hands sliding down her back, trying to get her out of the shirt with urgency.

On the other part, Phil moaned deep in his throat when the girl gave in to his advances and corresponded with the same need. He took a step further until he made Cassidy's back hit the wall. He left her mouth to lick her neck while one hand slid underneath the black shirt to caress the bare skin of her side. She arched her back causing her stomach to stay in contact with the man obvious erection, rubbing gently against him. He let out an animal growl when she slid her legs around his waist.

"Are you trying to kill me woman?"

She moved her lips to his ear and whispered "I want you to move faster old man" she said before biting his earlobe.

He used his arms to hold her closed as he made his way to the bed. He dropped her over the mattress and enjoyed the feminine and lustful laugh she gave him before he climbed over the bed and pinned her to it.

"I will show you just how old I am" he said as he continued torturing her, alternating between bites, licks until he was able to get that horrible shirt of her and let his hands explore her naked breast and sides. She shuddered at his touch but put her hands to work too, she let them danced over his abdomen until she found the nod of the towel, finally loosened it and making the thing aside.

Phil gasped the moment he felt her cold finger griping his cock and her lips whispering in his ear again "Then give it to me"

Forgetting his own name, the man buried himself inside her in one go. Cassidy threw her head back at the feel of him inside her, filling her, giving everything she wanted and more. Phil moved swiftly and strongly against her, making the bed crack a little under the force of his thrusts. He bowed his head to take one of her breasts in his mouth. She folded her legs over his hips and arms around his shoulders.

The sensual dance continued until she finally reached her orgasm. He came just a few seconds later. He collapsed on top of her, both breathing fast and hard. Time passed until they were calm enough to form a coherent phrase "I need to get you a full stock of Scotch" Cassidy said snuggling close to Phil, who had moved to the head of the bed and was resting his head on the pillows

"Why´s that?"

"Because if a bottle if what I need to get me more times like this, I think I will by I liquor store"

That made him laugh, he hugged her as she rested her head against his chest "Sounds like a plan to me"


	6. A Change

It was Monday morning and there she was in the lobby of the famous Stark Tower, sitting next to nine other candidates for the position and all those girls and the only man among them looked amazing; like movie stars.

She didn't mind not being dressed with the latest fashion, she'd never had, but what if being fashionable was something that this interview required? She looked at her clothes, they weren't bad or ugly, but they just weren't really new or extremely fashionable or expensive. If this job required you to have designer clothes and shoes before you were even a part of the company then she was starting with the wrong foot.

She checked her watch and kept on reading the book she'd brought to entertain herself, usually interviews took a while and she was happy she'd decided to bring it because it was almost noon and nobody had called either of them even though the appointment said at 11am. Yes, a few of the girls had waited less than she did since she arrived at 10:30am, and surprisingly they were more annoyed than she was and it was actually really obvious for at least 6 of them that they were about to storm out angry for the delay.

All the girls looked at her from time to time and she could almost hear their thoughts: 'What is she doing here?' They all had at least one Stark related thing, their phone, their computer, their tablet… while she was used to write everything in her notebook or in her kind of old phone.

The double doors finally opened, a very beautiful redheaded woman walked over to where they were sitting and before either of them could say hello she pointed and said: "All five of you, leave."

The five girls she pointed at simply looked at her confused and angry, one of them tried to say something but the woman's eyes simply showed there was no point in arguing.

"You arrived 10 minutes late that you were supposed to. We don't have time for irresponsible people in this company; see yourselves out or I'll have security escort you."

Elizabeth and the rest of the applicants froze in their seats and tried not to look at the five girls walking towards the door; the delay was a test, maybe they were being monitored since they arrived, this was Stark Enterprises after all.

A blonde and kind looking woman gave them a heavy folder and instructed them to read an answer all the information requested to the best of their abilities, she suddenly felt back in college doing one of the really long tests everyone dreads and she could see the surprised faces that she was sure mirrored her own. It took them at least forty minutes to read and answer all the questions and when they were over the same blonde woman picked those up while the redheaded and stern looking woman from before just kept them waiting for about thirty more minutes.

"Follow me." She said after answering her phone and started walking towards the double doors. "Feel free to ask any questions you deem necessary, I will take you to the office in which you'll be interviewed."

They started walking behind her, trying to follow her long and secure strides when she turned around a corner and stopped over some windowed room and inside was a man with glasses that looked at them with interest and then continued working. She stopped and turned around to face them, maybe she was waiting for someone to ask a question, but since nobody did she turned again before she heard someone talk.

"Who is he?" the man in the group asked not noticing that they weren't moving.

"I don't know" a girl answered. "A doctor, I guess."

"Both of you, this interview is over and don't make me repeat what I said before."

Elizabeth looked away for fear she might throw her out too, but instead when she looked up again the woman's gaze was directed at her.

"Do you know who he is?"

"Doctor Bruce Banner." One of the two remaining girls answered.

"And what does he do?"

"He's a nuclear physicist and the first and foremost scientist in knowledge about Gama radiation." Elizabeth answered.

"Both of you follow me." And she turned to the girl that didn't say anything, but was actually texting on her phone. "For you this is interview is over. Tell your boss that the next time he feels like sending someone to try to break into our systems he can be sure we're going to pursue legal action." Two security guards came in and politely told her to join them. "And if he does it again tell him Natasha Romanoff will pay him a visit."

One of the guards took away her phone, the girl was shaking and crying trying to apologize, but they assured her they were only going to accompany her to the front door.

"Come in, please." Miss Romanoff said and opened a door.

Elizabeth and the remaining girl walked inside an office and sat down on the couch they were shown to, a blonde woman greeted them with a smile.

"My name is Virginia Potts and I'm the CEO of Stark Enterprises, thanks for applying and congratulations on making it this far. I've read both your resumes and I was wondering if anatatachi wa nihongo ga hanasemasu ka? (Both of you speak Japanese?)

"Hai, nihongo ga hanasemasu" (Yes, I speak Japanese.) Elizabeth said while the other girl simply looked away and blushed embarrassed.

"Thanks for joining us today, but you won't get hired anywhere if you keep on lying in your resume. I'll have someone take you downstairs, people lie in their resume and most companies don't notice it. Then again most companies are not Stark Enterprises."

The girl almost ran away from the office while Elizabeth looked down at her hands and tried to hide a smile.

"Congratulations, Miss Morgan. Welcome to Stark Enterprises." Miss Potts said and shook her hand. "You have high recommendations and we hope you live up to the expectations we have of you."

"I'm sorry, but to be completely honest I'm not sure what I'd be doing here." She felt so silly for saying that, but since she just jumped at the opportunity she didn't even check with Jessie what the position was.

"You'll be an assistant, the kind of work you already did in your last job, but a little bit more, let's say, challenging."

"I'm sure working for you it's not really a challenge, I've read about how responsible and company driven, but grounded you are, Miss Potts."

"Oh, you won't be working for me." a smile appeared on the blonde woman's lips. "You'll be working for Mr. Stark."


	7. Recounting

Jess started squirming on her seat, trying to hold on to a body that wasn't there. She wrapped her arms against herself "maybe it was a dream" she mumbled.

"If it was I wouldn't probably be here holding a steaming cup of Joe for you." She blinked a couple of times and turned around to the voice "you don't know, maybe I had this type of dreams before, Clint." He laughed and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Morning" he continued and he handed her the cup of coffee.

She took the cup in both of her hands and took in the delicious scent "this has to be the best way to wake up." She looked back at him and smiled; she sat back and took a sip. Jessie noticed he didn't take his eyes of her "so" he said "you are a heavy sleeper." She nearly choked on her hot coffee "ah, what?" He leaned in on her "haven't you thought why you are sitting in my car right now?"

Jess bit her lip as she tried to remember the events of the past day; the last thing on her mind was how she fell asleep on his shoulder while the rain poured. He filled in the blanks for her "about an hour ago I had to carry your pretty little ass down. You kept squirming like a 3 year old, it was cute." They both laughed and took a sip of their coffees. She stared out the window and saw people passing by; she wasn't sure what to say next and from what she could sense, he wasn't able to say anything coherent either.

She turned her head to her left and rested it against the seat and just stared. She noticed how the sunlight coming in from the window made his hair have a golden tint to it; she studied his muscles contracting and relaxing when he pulled up his cup to his lips (_oh man, his lips)_ and sipped his coffee.

He looked back at her and raised an eyebrow "what?" Her finger toyed with the lid of the cup and she looked down, several lingering questions on her mind: _Where do we go from here? Was it only a onetime thing and that's it? What do you want from me?_ She looked up at him, as he waited for an answer. "Umm" she mumbled "thanks for the coffee?" Clint placed his empty cup in the dashboard and turned to face her "I can tell something is boggling your mind, cough it up."

_What if I told him what I'm thinking? What if this is just a game he likes to play? What if he runs away from me? Will this be just was one pretty fantasy I will always have in my head?_ She looked desperately in his eyes trying to seek for an answer. She couldn't take not knowing, she is a very driven girl and always thought ahead, but with him, it was a different story. She couldn't take this anxiety, she just can't.

Jess set her cup down and pulled his face into hers, pressing him into a hungry kiss. She didn't want this feeling to end; she liked the feeling of safety when she was in his arms. As he wrapped his arms around her back she started wrapping her fingers in his hair, holding him as tight as she could.

He suddenly pulled away "fuck" and took out his phone from his jacket. He opened up the phone and started talking excitedly with the other person in the line, tangling his fingers into hers. He nodded his head every couple of seconds and muttered "yeah," "I'm on it" just before he hung up his phone. He pressed his head back to the seat and took a deep breath.

"I… I have to…"

"Yeah. I know. Be all super hero and stuff?" She laughed weakly.

"Want me to drive you h…"

"That's ok" Jessica sighed "I actually live like two blocks from here and I could use the walk."

Jessie leaned to the door of the car and opened it, but Clint caught her by her shoulder. She stood still for a second and looked back at him; he pressed a soft kiss in her lips. He pressed his forehead against hers and sighed. "Thanks" he whispered and kissed her a last time.

"Morning, Jessie. Fancy seeing you here so… early." Jessie turns around, taken aback. "Shi… Ellie, you scared me." Her new roommate Elizabeth was sitting nonchalantly in the couch, sipping a mug of coffee. She had forgotten that she was going to be there, since she started working at STARK she wasn't at home much. And Cassidy was probably staying with Agent Coulson, which is a topic she HAS to go through with her once she comes back.

Ellie checked on her frame from top to bottom and opened her mouth to speak (_oh God, I don't want to talk about it.) _"So... How's working for the famous Tony Stark?" Jessica interrupted. Her friend sighed and took a sip "After a bunch of emails and just talking to JARVIS, well, he actually showed up last night." _This is good, no need to talk about me. _

She runs up to the couch and sits next to her, but clearly Ellie didn't want to let go of why she was home so… late. "Jessie... Why are you clothes...? Did you sleep outside?"

"Ah" she tries to run her fingers through her tangled hair "Yes, I did. But tell me more, how is he like in real life?"

"Exactly the way he looks in front of the camera. Cocky, arrogant, annoying" she bit her lip.

"Hot?"

Elizabeth blushed "Well, that too" and sips her coffee casually. "Really hot. And a genius, of course. But sill very annoying."

Jess laughed softly at her friend's distress with the mighty Iron Man "Well, it comes with the job description I guess."

"Yeah, well, I should've figured it would be like this. But, enough about me... where were you both?" She gave Jessie another puzzled look. "Was it official SHIELD business or something?"

Jess looks at the window, trying to look for a good distraction topic. But Ellie didn't flinch "yeah, I guess you can call it that" Jessica finally caved.

"Wait! I know that look! What happened?" Ellie asked, and Jess tried to move her gaze away from hers "Or better said: Who happened?"

Jess started to make way to her bedroom. She heard Elizabeth's steps closing in and opened up her closet. The clothes where uncomfortably dried against her skin and her hair was a mess. She pulled up her hair up in a quick ponytail and started to take of her shirt as Ellie barged in her room. She started to tap her foot against the hardwood floor "I… I don't know if I can actually talk about it, Ells."

Elizabeth starts jumping up and down, looking like she might start throwing a fit. "I think I might have gotten in too deep with someone I shall not mention" Jess caved.

"Ok, let's not mention this person's name. What do you mean too deep?"

Jess sat down on her bed after putting on some sweats and her old alma mater t-shirt "I don't know. We only had a... date… Well, I don't know if that should have been considered a date" her mind starts to wonder off but shakes her head. "I don't know if it's going to be just a physical thing... Not that I mind... But considering that Cl... Who that guy is, that might just be it."

Ellie sits next to her "And are you ok with it just being a physical thing?"

Jess looks down "Yeah" She is not sure what to think. She wanted to ask this to Clint, and God knows how many other questions, but he had to leave and save the day.

"Jessie, I might not know you for as long as Cass has, but I think I know you enough." Jess gives her a hint of a smile.

"You just said date and physical in the same breath. For you this was a date. Which ended up in well, we know what" she pointed at Jess and her whole frame. They both laugh.

"Was it a date for him?"

"Well, it did seem like one but he didn't deny or admit it. And it's not like I can sit him down and ask him because he is… kinda elusive."

" Don't sit him." She sat closer to her "I don't think you need to have a long conversation. Just ask him a question, next time you see each other, which I'm sure you are. Is this a date or not?"

"I love that you say we are gonna see each other. Last time I saw him it took him a week to…" she clasped her hand to her mouth; _I shouldn't have said that, fuck._

Ellie laughed "Ohhhh, so elusive is the word."

Jess sighed "You have no idea, Elle."

"What did he do? Come on, tell me."

"Well... There was last night" she signals one with her finger "and the night we met so that's two" and motioned two fingers at her.

Jess started telling her the whole ordeal: taking Jess to the park, the toy store and the ferry ride. She excluded the Cassidy/Phil part because, well, Cassidy might kill her if she spilled. "At first it was weird... But then he took me to FAO Schwarz" she sighed deeply "It's like he knows my whole life… Which is kind of creepy...? But" she took a deep breath "it was awesome."

Ellie laughs "Jessie, look, for what I see this is something more than just sex, even if you wouldn't mind. You seriously think he would've taken all that trouble just to have sex with you?" She put her arm around her shoulders and hugged her comfortably "I think he likes you. For who you are."

Jess couldn't look up, she knows Elizabeth is right. "My point is that I think he likes you. And you like him, obviously."

"What gave that away" Jess snickers and her lips try to hold back a smile.

Ellie looked back at her watch and looked back at her friend. "I'm not saying you have to go pour your heart out to himself if he is as elusive as you say, it means he likes to keep a distance and have his own space, but that doesn't mean he'd want you to pull away just because there is no word to define whatever this is, I think he'd like honesty. People that tend to close off really like when someone is honest enough to say what they think."

Jess stares quietly at Ellie "Woman... You just blew me away with your wisdom."

They both laugh "I think I made a good picking on roommate" Jess admitted, and hugged her friend. "Thanks" Jessica finished.

Ellie stood up quickly, pressing her skirt down "By the way, I'll be home really late tonight."

Jess looks back at her "Oh... You have a date now. Who is it?" She lies on her bed and props her head up with the heels of her palms.

"Work" Elizabeth said under her breath. She stood in front of the mirror in the hall as she fixed her makeup and hair.

"A date with... Work?"

Ellie huffed "It's not a date."

"Oh my Gosh, you are going to go with Mr. Stark, aren't ya?"

Ellie blushes a little "its work related."

"Just like my date was work related too" Jessica teases.

"Seriously, Jessie, he can't even remember my name. He called me Rebecca. He just needs a plus one so he won't get bored at the gala." She walks back to the living room and picks up several files and the tablet she placed on the coffee table "And I don't want to deal with the PR disaster if he gets too drunk again" she yelled from the break room.

"It's just like Ms Potts all over again" Jess yells back, "and we all know how that ended."

Jess could hear the tap of Ellie's shoes coming back to her bedroom "And that's why they are together now. Besides, I'm just his assistant."

Ellie stood in the doorway of Jessie's room "Well, I have to go now or I'll be late for work. I'll see you tomorrow." And waved her goodbye. "Have fun with Mr. Stark" Jessie yelled as Ellie was almost out the door "BITE ME, CHASE!" Elizabeth replied and closed the door.

It's a good thing it was a Saturday and apparently Cassidy was not going to be home any time soon, so Jess decided to crash. She laid on her bed and took out Clint's phone from her purse and played around on it. _Where the hell is this entire thing going? _She thought to herself. Ellie was right, he might like her and all, but there is going to be a point in this, (_relationship? it was only two times they met and the only thing they actually did was make out, which, wasn't bad_) situation where the matter needed to be sorted out.

So, yeah, Clint had heroic things he needed to do, he was Hawkeye after all, but she wasn't sure how him being... _him_, was going to work out with her. People at SHIELD and Stark might start to talk and things might just implode. _Wait, why am I jumping to conclusions? Why do I need to know this now? Can't I just enjoy this? _

She got to the image files on the phone and saw a new picture already added: the view from the rooftop.

She dared and sent him a text message to, what she supposed, was his own phone _"next time, I'll plan the date_" and placed on her nightstand, looking at the picture before dozing off. Minutes later she got a new message she would surely read when she woke up "_looking forward to it." _


	8. A Bad Day

**Chapter 3 A bad day**

The rest of her weekend was uneventful. At 9am on Saturday Phil got a phone call from Agent Hill requesting his presence back at HQ. She got a ride back to Stark Tower, she had left her car at the parking lot on Friday, and after working on a few last minute details of the goddamn Stark Phone campaign she drove home. Thankfully, the only one there was Jess, Elizabeth probably was at work and if she had any luck the girl won´t ask her where did she spend the night.

On the other hand, Jess didn't asked her either. First, because she already had an idea, and second, the girl looked a bit out of herself. Cassidy wanted to ask what happened but she didn't dare, she didn't want to press her good luck. As for Monday, she spent it inside her room, studying for one of her many exams.

On Monday, she was back at the office around 3am, working her ass off again. Monday, the day of the week she hated the most, and especially that Monday fell on a specific date Cassidy greatly hated. She spent all morning dreading every time the device sounded only to feel relieved when it was a work-related call. After a few hours cloistered in her office she decided to go take a walk around the building, maybe going down to the cafeteria. Oh her way down she met with one of the Pepper Potts' assistants.

"Miss Ryan?"

"Yes"

"I was asked by Director Potts to give you this and tell you to take it down and give it to Agent Hill" the poor kid was scared out of his mind. Most STARK Industries employees dreaded having to deal with anything SHIELD related.

She smiled at him and took the papers "I will it. Thank you" she said as the kid flew down the aisle. Cassidy laughed before making her way down again; apparently she will have her late breakfast at SHIELD.

She was thinking on hundreds of stupid thing that she didn't notice the girl that was walking next to her until she talked.

"Good morning, Cassidy" she smiled. It was Elizabeth Morgan, one of her two roommates and the new PA of Tony Stark "How early did you leave? I thought I would see you at breakfast."

She smiled back "Around 3am. There was some last minute changes I needed to do to my presentation" the girl yawned "Sorry about that"

"Don't worry; I understand what being tired is. How did the presentation go?"

"As good as I had expected it, thank god" Cassidy smiled, she was proud that everything had paid off after all the hard work "But you know how this is, you get off one project and there are like 20 more you have to do"

"Tell me about it! There's always something new to do and I know we are not working for the same department, but if you ever need any help just let me know and I'd be happy to help."

"Thanks. And speaking of work" the girl smiled slyly at her friend "How about the gala?"

"It was fine." she tried to keep her voice in a casual tone. "The place was magical, the music beautiful and the wine was really good. I already told Jessie we should all go there one of these days."

Cassidy´s expression turned even more wicked "Of course we should, I would hate for you to go ALONE to one of this things again"

"Yeah, well, I wasn't alone-alone" she coughed. "Mr. Stark actually showed up. Which is a first, since he never goes to any of the events I send him the information about."

The publicist laughed out loud "He never does, unless Pep... I mean Miss Potts make him" she kept looking at Elizabeth with a mischievous glint on her eyes "And I suppose he was his charming self?"

"A side of him I didn't know until then since he's never here."

"He is always charming, way too much for his own good, but I guess it comes with the territory. Just don't let him do whatever he wants with you, he has a tendency to hit on everyone smart enough to catch his eye. Take it from someone who knows first handed"

"I actually found him annoying when he showed up in the office out of nowhere" she leaned on the wall and laughed. "And I think I actually annoyed him a bit, calling him on always taking bimbos to events."

"I know he's a playboy. It's part of the Stark legacy, I guess. I did my best to keep him at arms distance..." she looked away and Cassidy noticed the faint blush on her cheeks. "Well, I tried."

"Bitchy, I like it" she laughed "I tend to let Miss Potts deal with him as much as I can. And yes, he is a damn playboy, thank god he is not my type" _I am most of a seasoned SHIELD agent kind of girl_ she thought as she listened to the rest of her rant and notice the color raising on her cheeks "Wait, wait, wait. What did you do, exactly Miss. Morgan?"

"It's not like I wanted to be bitchy, it's just it seems there is no other way to communicate with him. It's not really my fault he IS my type of guy. Well... I didn't really do anything, Cass."

"Hey, I am not saying it is a bad thing, I am a complete bitch when he gets on mi nerves, boss or no boss"

"He has a talent to get on people's nerves and since I'm his assistant it kind of gets worse."

"It is difficult if he is the type of guy you like I suppose, especially if he offers himself like he usually does" she smiled "Well, I think I am the last person entitled to say anything about romance in the workplace" Cassidy said in a whisper, more to herself than for Elizabeth

"Yeah, well, he doesn't really know that he's my type and I'm going to keep my distance. I don't really need my boss whispering in my ear again." she covered her mouth as fast as she could and changed the topic. "Romance in the work place? Do I know him?"

Cassidy froze for a fraction of second _Oh shit_ "No, because there is no one" it wasn't as if she wanted to lie to her friend but she had come to the realization that Phil was the one with the last word in the matter going public or not... a thing that annoyed the publicist to no end "I said it because I have worked here longer than you, this place is FULL of gossip" Maybe one of these days she would tell her and Jess about her life "Besides, I have no time even to myself"

Elizabeth looked at Cassidy with suspicion in her eyes. "None of us have the time to maintain a relationship, especially when we have to deal with people like the ones we work for. Yes, well, a big place like this is bound to have endless gossip, whether is real or not. And speaking about gossip and before anyone tells you because I'm sure someone saw me leaving on Saturday and it's a matter of time before they come asking you... Yes, Mr. Stark bought me a dress for the gala. I don't really mind and I know you would never believe anything bad they say about me, but I overheard someone saying that I might've done something 'extra' to get a dress like that one. Well, if there was gossip in my last job and it was a very small company then here the gossip multiplies by a tenfold."

Cassidy kept smiling "Of course I won't believe any stupid gossip Ellie, I know you. It´s a shame I wasn´t home to see you in the dress, I am sure you look lovely in it"

"I know you won't, Cass." she laughed. "I'll show it to you later when we get home. By the way, do you know what happened to Happy on Saturday? He was supposed to take me to the gala, but he wasn't there and Franz actually took me."

Cassidy thought for a moment "I am...I am not sure, he is usually driving Pepper around but she was out of town all Friday, then again I am not much aware of what happened on Friday after my appointment with her" that had been around 8. There was a rumor going about Miss Potts and Happy Hogan but Cassidy didn't have any kind of proof so she didn't mention that to Eli "Well, no sorry, I have no idea where he could have been"

"I've being worried about him since Saturday. I hope he's not sick. Well, I have to run; I was supposed to take this over to Doctor Banner a while ago. There is still some, hum, things I should tell you about, but let's talk at home, ok?"

"Ok, you go, I am supposed to run some things at SHIELD anyways" the girl said "And yes, we will talk tonight"

After that the publicist finally made her way down to the agency headquarters. It took her a while to locate Agent Maria Hill, the woman was inside Director Fury´s office and of course she couldn't just brag inside. She asked Fury´s assistant to call her the moment Hill left the office and while she waited she went to the cafeteria. Again she sat at one of the far tables and waited. Of course the universe was so special that it was at that rare moment of relaxation that her Phone buzzed. She opened and read the text

_**Are you going to come this time?**_

It was a message from her older brother Caine. Cassidy froze in place. Her brain short-circuited.

Cassidy Ryan was adopted. Allan and Kimberly Ryan had two boys of their own: Caine and Alex but after the birth of Alex Kimberly couldn't have more kids because of a health problem. And because she always wanted a girl Allan convinced her to adopt a baby. That was when baby Cassidy got into the picture. She had a happy, average childhood; she loved her parents and worshiped her older brothers. But things are never meant to be perfect for long. Alex was killed on the New York battle against Loki.

She went to his funeral, not because she wanted but because she had to. Not that her brother's death didn't hurt her, it did, it was just that her brain had simply decided that if she did not think about it, if she didn´t share the grief of her family, it wasn't going to hurt so much.

Today was the religious service her parents provided every month and like every month Caine asked her if she was going to show up, even if he knew she never did.

Cassidy hated it, she hated it that her family thought she was a heartless bitch but most of all she hated how just to think about it threw her out of balance for at least a couple of days.

"I said, were you looking for me?" said an annoyed voice behind her

Cassidy all but whined as she looked up to see Maria Hill looking down at her "Sorry"

"Fury´s assistant said you were looking for me"

"Oh yeah" she mumbled handing her the papers "Director Potts asked me to give you this"

Hill snatched the papers out of her hands and read them fast "Fine. Tell her I will give them back to her the moment the Director sees them" the woman said this and left.

Cassidy sat there like a stupid little kid for a couple of minutes before standing and making her way back to her office. She prayed her day didn't get any worse.

ooOoo

At noon, she was already calmed and working to keep her mind at ease when someone knocked at her door, a familiar face peeked in "you busy?"

She looked up from the papers in her hand and smiled at Jessie "No, please come in"

"So" she started as she sat down on a chair "Haven't seen you in a while" she leaned over to pick some candy from a bowl in the desk and unfolded the paper "How are you?"

"Very good, thanks for asking" Cassidy framed an eyebrow at her friend´s antics "Is there anything I can help you with?" and she did mean anything, whatever she wanted to talk about was a welcome distraction

"Just" she chewed the candy "I haven't seen you in a while. And I am incredibly curious about your life"

"I am pretty sure you are" Cassidy smirked at that "and you know I could say the same thing to you."

"I don't think my life is as interesting as yours... Considering who you were with"

Cassidy couldn't help to blush "Yeah well, it´s not what you think" said she more out of habit that with the actual intention of lying to her "Besides, you have been acting very mysterious yourself; it makes me wonder what are you up to?"

Jess toyed with the candy wrapper in her hands "Just... Lots of training"

"Training? That´s how you call it now, training?" Her friend was a little bit more transparent than she thought she was

"Well, yeah... I have been down there a whole lot this past week... I don't know what Fury's plan is with us… Wait... You're changing the subject" Jess leaned in the desk "Spill"

"I am too old for this" snapped Cassidy playfully, pinching the bridge of her nose "If you are willing to tell me what is it with you I will tell you my story, deal?"

"Sure, sure" she grabbed a couple of more candies and smiles wide before lying down on the chair again "So…Coulson, huh?"

Cassidy smiled softly "Well, yeah. I think it´s kind of obvious after you saw us last Friday. What do you want me to tell you?"

"Whatever you are willing to say" said the girl; she was obviously enjoying all of this

She thought for a moment "Well, we have been seeing each other for a while... around 8 months or so" again Cassidy smiled softly "It was around the time Mr. Stark became the consultant for SHIELD. I met him at one of the STARK parties when he was babysitting the boss. We kind of just... clicked I guess"

"Are you happy, then?" asked her friend with a smile of her own.

Cassidy laughed before looking straight "I really am, and I thank whoever runs the universe for it. Now, enough of me and my supposed to be secret love life, tell me what were you doing on Friday night?"

Jessie hesitated for a moment before answering "I was out for a stroll"

"Jessica"

She looked down "What? It was a nice night and I decided to take a walk"

"Jessica Chase, I was out too, it was freaking cold and it rained so stopped lying and tell me the truth"

"Ok ok... Relax" she took a deep breath and looked back up at Cassidy "I was on a... Date, of some sorts"

Cassidy crossed her arms over her chest and waited for the girl to elaborate some more

Jessie leaned on the desk again "It was a scavenger hunt, and I was going to my last stop"

"Right, and why were you doing a scavenger hunt?"

"It was his" she hissed "idea"

"Oh dear god, please tell me it's not who I think it is" said she remembering the night at the cafeteria

"Wanna try your seer powers now?" She laughed at Cassidy´s expression "We all know about the giant humanoid octopus and Fury´s concern about you being some king of random Seer. So, give it a go" she leaned back and put her feet on the desk, folding them

Damn Fury and his antics

"Let see, he is a bird of prey that loves to climb high places and uses a bow?"

"Wow. You ARE a seer"

She laughed again "Apparently, or maybe it is that I saw him about a week ago and he told me he had met you. Besides a crazy scavenger hunt sounds way too much like him"

"He did..." she grabbed the handle of the chair way too hard "Interesting. Well... I can see more promise on your relationship instead of mine. I don't think it was actually something to begin with"

Cassidy raised an eyebrow "He didn´t tell me anything outside of the fact that he knew you" She didn´t know why she was defending him outside of the fact that it was the true "and why you say that? Did something happen between you two? Do I need to go borrow Phil's taser and kick his sorry ass?"

"No... Don't... Well" she smirked "Maybe. I don't think anyone else should know about the stint. He was a jerk and made it clear it was only a onetime thing..."

Cassidy´s eyes opened wide "Oh" she said processing her words before settling with an angry expression "I told him not to do anything stupid. That ass! Oh but he is going to hear me, just wait until I find him" she stopped then trying to call her unstable emotions and focus on the girl in front of her and her problem "wait... what do you mean it was just one time thing? Did he say something?"

"Just... At training... He took over for Captain Rogers and he got stupidly jealous and I called him on it and asked where we were. But to him it was a onetime thing"

_Oh dear lord_ thought Cassidy "Honey, I don´t want to sound like a bitch but you shouldn´t have had to ask him anything when he was in a mood"

"It was, kinda scary" she stood up and sat beside Cassidy on her desk "I had to ask... Why would he be jealous all of the sudden...? It's not like he owns me or something"

She tried to think of something to say. If it was true that Cassidy knew Clint more than Jess still was not like the girl could say that was what was in the mind of the archer "I wish I could tell you something but I am not sure. All I know is that Clinton Barton is not an easy man to deal with, he is annoying and goofy most of the time but at the core of all he is a very mistrusting guy" said she remembering the time it went on until he decided to talk to her. It hadn´t been until he had spot her talking with Phil that Clint thought she was worth his time

"Yeah, I know that side of him" she gazed longingly out the window "But that day on the rooftop... He was different"

Cassidy put her hand on her thigh "Would you tell me the rest of the story?"

Jess still looked out the window as she tells the happenings of that day° "…We talked till I fell asleep on his shoulder… I felt he actually trusted me to open up about everything he has gone through, I liked that side of him" she sighed

Cassidy silently bowed that the next time she saw Clint she was going to kick some sense into him even if that meant trouble "Oh Jess, I wish I could help you, I really do. I just, and again I know is going to sound wrong, just give him time. He is human, he do and say stupid things when mad just like the rest of us" and for the first time she was glad of her thing with Phil. It wasn't paradise but at least they don't tend to fight like that. If she was honest with herself, they didn't talk that much either.

"I sure hope so. At least I got mind-blowing sex out of it, so it´s fine" Jess starts to laugh

Cassidy laughed to "It is a good thing, and if he keeps being an ass at least you can find another man"

"Yeah. Anyways, I´m heading off" she started walking towards the door

Cassidy smiled softly at her "Hey" she called "If you need anything just call, ok?"

"Sure..." she stopped on her tracks and walked back "That reminds me" she fumbled through her pockets and takes out a black phone, Jess looked at it for a couple of seconds and threw it gently on Cassidy's desk "If you see... Him... Just, give him this"

She took the phone and looked at it suspiciously "Oh I will" _and put it in a very uncomfortable place if I can_ "don't worry about it. I will give it to him"

"Thanks" she walked towards the door and headed out

Cassidy looked at the black phone in her hand. She knew what she was about to do was stupid, she shouldn't try to fix other people problems when she was a mess herself but there was one thing she couldn't stand, depressed or not depressed, and that was looking how a guy with an smartass mouth hurt one of her best friends.

For the second time that day she made her way down to SHIELD and right into Agent Coulson´s office. She didn't knock, just stormed inside making the man looked at her with a blank control expression and disbelieve in his eyes "Where is Specialist Clinton Barton?" she asked, her hands shaking, the little black phone on her right hand

Coulson didn't say a thing at first, just looked at her as if it was the first time he saw her, then he composed himself and his eyes turned hard "What do you think you are doing?"

"I asked you a question"

"So did I"

"Look" she said, calming herself enough to talk like a civilized person "I need to find Hawkeye and I need to do it fast, you can bitch at me for this AFTER I have talk to him"

The agent, again, said nothing. In the end, he apparently sensed her discomfort and barely concealing rage and sighed "He is down at the range. Tell the others I send you" he added. Her clearance wasn't high enough to access the shooting range "When you are finished, come back here" this time his voice was commanding. Couple or not, he wasn't going to let her get away with this kind of behavior without a proper explanation.

"Sure thing" answered Cassidy in a sarcastic voice before storming out.

Her way to the shooting range was short and uneventful; no one stopped her even when she growled that Agent Coulson gave her the clearance to go.

She opened the door of the range; it was empty with the exception of the archer who was shooting with a rage that mirage her own. She entered the place, slamming the door behind her, which got his attention. He looked at her but didn't stop shooting.

"We need to talk" The man just kept looking at her. That pissed her to no end, she was sad, mad and with an urge to rip off some heads and if he kept being an asshole she was going to use him as target… even if the rational, yet not available at that moment, part of her brain knew he could hurt her without even breaking a sweat. Cassidy walked up to him and stepped right in front of his line of vision "Now Hawkeye"

"You are a stupid woman" he snapped, putting his bow and arrow down "Do you realize I could have killed you?"

"Yes, but you didn't so know you are going to listen to me, you asshole" to her amusement he didn't curse her back, just waited for her to get over with it so he could go back to shooting. Cassidy took a couple of steps back and snapped the black phone on the table with enough force to crack the front lit "Will you explain"

And it was the little black phone what made him react "Why do you have that?" he asked as he slapped her hand away to take it

"Jessie gave it to me. She wanted me to throw it away" ok that was a lie but if lying was what she needed to made him talk then so be it

"She wouldn't" he growled

"Oh don't go all macho on me Barton; I know what you did to her. I told you not to do something stupid but you did anyways"

"You know shit about it" Clint gave her a once over, a look of disgust on his face "So don't come here acting as if you were her knight in shining armor. If she has issues with me she can come herself"

Cassidy laughed bitterly. This was going out of hand. She shouldn't have come. With her luck, this was going to upscale from a shouting match to a physical thing. Then again, hasn't she said it to herself earlier: Today was her least favorite day ever. "At least I care about her, not like others."

"I am asking you to shut up" he said narrowing his eyes

"Like hell I will, you didn't have the right to play with her. Yes, she is a big girl but even if she is no one has the right to play her, and you, my friend are nothing more than a freaking player. She is a friend, one of the few I have got, I am not going to let you used her."

"You have no right to say anything about other people relationships, you don't even have one"

Cassidy stopped on her rant to look at the archer; she laughed hysterically "Like you said, you know shit about it"

He smiled a smile so evil it sent shivers down her spine "Really? If she told you about us then she told you she was the Ferry. So was I"

Cassidy´s blood ran cold on her veins, her heart hammered fast and loud enough she was sure Clint could hear it. The shock in her face just made him smiled even more "Exactly. I know your little secret."

"They you know you are wrong about me"

"No" he moved around until he was leaning against one of the pillars in the place "Tell me something, how many people know about you two? Your boss? Fury? How many outside of those who HAD to know" Cassidy bit her lip, she was trembling with fury but he knew she couldn't say a thing "You keep your so called relationship a secret to the outside world. That´s not a relationship, Cassidy"

"And if you are so well verse in the subject, enlighten me, what are we then?" she managed to say in a steady voice

"I will use your argument then. I have known Phil longer than you, he is a friend of sorts and if he hadn't let people know about you it can only be because of one reason: You are nothing more than a dirty little secret"

SMACK

Time seemed to stop as her hand connected with his face. She couldn't believe she had just slapped Clinton Barton and by the look in his face, he couldn't either.

"Fuck you Clint, you Carnival dancing monkey with good aim" she said as she left the place.


	9. Getting Used To

**Chapter 3: Getting used to. **

Three and a half months later she was still getting used to the fact the she now was Mr. Stark's assistant and everyone knew who she was, wanted her to drop by for a coffee or tea or brunch or lunch or dinner and everything related to him had to be run through her before he even took the time to check the daily updates Miss Potts told her he should have, sensitive information about the company, new products, public campaigns, etc and of course his schedule.

The other thing she now knew was that S.H.I.E.L.D was actually a few floors below and that her roommates and best friends were actually a part of it. Jessie was an amazing agent with the ever growing possibility of being a field agent and Cassidy was the very clever creative director and liaison between Stark Enterprises and S.H.I.E.L.D, even though they never talked about it. Either way there was hardly any reason to discuss it since S.H.I.E.L.D sent information to her boss and she received a direct order that she actually had to sort it out before she even thought about having it sent to Mr. Stark.

Months earlier the asgardian called Loki tried to conquer Earth and as it was all over the news there was no point in hiding it, Stark Tower had to be practically reconstructed after the incident and, as usual, Mr. Stark did his outmost to make this place much more comfortable than before and now she sat in the brand new sofa, in his office sorting information around with her fingers in the hovering images that surrounded her.

She sighed, closed her eyes and stretched her arms and her back; working late was something normal when one worked for Stark Enterprises and she actually liked it, but she'd been craving for a cup of tea since afternoon and hadn't had the time to drink one, she'd have to settle for a glass of water from the bar that was mandatory for Mr. Stark's office.

"Miss Morgan"

"Yes, Jarvis?" she smiled ironically. How weird that one her only real male friends was actually a voice.

"You told me to remind you to call Miss Potts to discuss last minute details about tomorrow's gala."

"Thank you." With a quick move of her hand she sent the information to her tablet, leaned back on the sofa and chuckled. "So, Jarvis, do you think Mr. Stark will grace us with his presence tomorrow or should I just go instead of him?"

"Unless you can actually wear the Iron Man suit I don't think you'd be able to pass as me, the obvious anatomical differences and the lack of facial hair might give you away." The amplified voice filled the room and she almost choked with a sip of water.

"Mr. Stark!" Elizabeth stood up as quickly as she could. "I didn't… I never…" for a moment she forgot what she was about to say, he was walking towards her, the mechanical arms taking of his suit, underneath it he was wearing black pants, a grey tight long sleeved shirt and black sneakers, he looked at her with a glint of amusement and she realized she was staring at him. "So, should I confirm your assistance to the gala tomorrow instead of the usual 'Mr. Anthony Stark may or may not be attending the event'?

"What is this charity thing?" he sat down across of her and motioned her to sit down.

"It's a gala to raise money in order to help promote art in schools. And Stark Enterprises is actually one of the main sponsors." She said double checking the information in her tablet.

"Where is this?"

"The Cloisters" she answered with a hint of emotion in her voice extracting a map from the tablet and sending the image to the hand he extended.

"Well, I don't know if being in a medieval cloister sounds fun or boring."

"I'd say it's an educative experience."

"Do they want me-me or the tin man to show?"

"I'd say that since Iron Man is the one that shows up when there's trouble it's better if it's you, Mr. Stark." He sighs. "Is that a yes?"

"Sure, sure." he waves his hand absentmindedly.

"Excellent. I'll let them know then." He watched her fingers move swiftly over the screen and smiled charmingly towards her.

"Are you my plus one?"

"I'm sorry?" the waver of nervousness in her voice made him smile wider.

"Don't I need a plus one for this kind of event?"

"I don't think they actually require you to…"

"Yeah, but I'll be bored there and I'll probably just leave after a few drinks and shake hands with people I don't know and don't care to know."

"I'm sure I can find someone that would like to go with you, Mr. Stark."

"Are you saying you don't want to go?"

"I'm your assistant." She said with a hint of exasperation in her voice. "I need to be there in case you need me, but I don't think that…"

"Exactly my point; I need assistance on this matter." He leaned over and frowned. "I don't want to have to fire you for not doing your job."

"And have Miss Potts and Miss Romanoff look for a new assistant? I don't think they'd appreciate that." She smiled towards him moving her hands quickly over the screen. "I just wonder... do you even know my name?"

"Pepper Jr? No, wait you don't look like her. Let's see." He leaned over and hummed pretending to think about it. "AHA! Natasha Jr. No? Jarvis… A little help here?"

"Sir, I do believe you should've seen the memo..."

"I was too busy in Japan, being a super hero takes time you know. Don't really have a minute to look at a memo."

"My name is Elizabeth Morgan." She interjected before he rambled on.

"Be a dear and get me a drink, Rebecca."

"I may be your assistant, but I am not your bartender, Mr. Stark. Also, my name is Elizabeth." He looked at her amused but still moved his hands mimicking the gesture of pouring a drink. "I'm sure you know where the cabinet is and also there is a brand new bottle of scotch on the counter. Agent Coulson left it here earlier."

Tony walked over to the cabinet, opened it and looked inside frowning at the sight of the cabinet filled with the usual liquor.

"I don't see it." he said loud enough for her to hear it.

"Maybe I should get you an appointment with an ophthalmologist." She said with a huff, how come he'd been there for a couple of minutes and he'd already annoyed her?

"Stop being cuter than you already are" he said and smiled when it was obvious she blushed a little. "It's physically not here, see?"

"Maybe it's because it's here" he looked at her hand when she slid the bottle from the other side of the counter and it stopped near his. "The gala is tomorrow at eight o'clock. Happy already knows about it and will pick you up at seven. I'll meet you there."

"Hopefully not dressed like that" he said pouring the amber liquid on a glass and taking a quick sip, "I can't let you hurt my reputation. I'm supposed to be a playboy, remember?" he took a big gulp and poured himself another glass.

"Your reputation for taking bimbos to events will be sullied just by the fact that I can breathe and think at the same time, Mr. Stark." She smirked.

"I take it you don't want a new dress then?" he chuckled when she looked away, he'd got her. "I knew you would."

"Just to be clear, you are offering to buy me a dress, shoes and accessories so I can be your excuse to leave conversations over the pretext that you are 'busy' with me?"

"I do have a reputation to uphold, don't I? After all I am Tony Stark. If I don't leave early, arrive late or don't arrive at all I don't make the news."

"You always make the news and I am the one that deals with the PR disasters you seem to create out of boredom."

"Having fun is not condemned by law, last time I checked; just because you are so serious it doesn't mean we all have to." She scoffed. "Is that a no to the dress? Because I'm sure Jarvis can look for one if you don't know about it…"

"Any specific designer, sir?" Jarvis' voice interjected.

"She doesn't really care about it; do you, Miss Uptight Assistant?" he teased her and looked at her business suit and the tight ponytail she was wearing.

"Of course I care." she said, exhaustion evident in her tone of voice and smiled sarcastically at him. "It's not like Mr. Stark can afford to have a badly dressed assistant. Here's the dress, Jarvis." She said and her fingers tapped the screen.

"I will order it right now, Miss Morgan. Should I have it delivered to your house?"

"Have it delivered here." Tony interrupted from behind the counter. "I will go there by myself and Happy will take her." she pursed her lips, but before she could say anything he said. "After all Mr. Stark can't afford to have an assistant that arrives by taxi when we have town cars, can he?"

"It's actually a great idea, since I have to be here since morning."

"What kind of boss makes someone work on Saturday?" he pretended to be surprised and emptied the glass he was holding in his hand. "You should quit."

"Oh, I couldn't do that. I worry about that would he do without my outstanding work and dedication." she smirked. "I know you don't like to be handed things, so here's a folder with some papers you need to sign" she placed it over the counter. "And there is also some information you need to review about the final Marketing Brief for the new Stark Phone, Jarvis already has it stored for you."

"Why don't you have a drink with me?" he said after taking out a second glass.

"I don't think I should" she leaned over the counter and gave him a little smile; "my boss would be appalled at my behavior." He raised his eyebrows in amusement. "I'd better get going." She said trying to hide the fact that she was blushing. (_Since when flirting with your boss is a good idea, Elizabeth?_) She grabbed her coat and walked to the door.

"Come on, I need to get you know you better at least."

"Shouldn't we leave that for tomorrow when you are bored after a few drinks and shaking hands with people you don't know and don't care to know?" he chuckled at the mixture of matter-o-fact and annoyance she used. "Anything else you need me to do, Mr. Stark?"

"Do you need a ride?" he said and pointed to the runway.

"No, thank you. Don't we have town cars for that?"

"Won't your boss be appalled at your cheeky behavior?" the ice in the glass clinked as he moved his hand to point at her.

"If he was I'm pretty sure he'd already said so, don't you think?" she put on her coat and opened the door while he grabbed the folder from the counter. "Remember that you need to be there before eight o'clock, Mr. Stark."

"Call me Tony" he winked and sat down on the sofa.

"Good night, Mr. Stark." She finished and closed the door behind her.


	10. Aftermath

"Well this is going to be fun" Jessica thought as she stood in the elevator with other 9 promising field agents. She wasn't aware she was going to have more training than she already had, but if they wanted her there, it had to be for a reason. And working with Mr. Rogers was great: the all American hero wasn't much of a show off, but he did manage to take anybody under his wing (_shield might be appropriate)_ and make him/her the best agent in S.H.I.E.L.D.

All 10 prospects walked down the stairs to the training area to find Captain Rogers was not there yet. "This is strange" she thought "he is usually a very punctual guy." Jess and several other trainees walked towards the area of the boxing ring and each one started to prepare on their own.

Jess pulled out her phone from her gym bag and turned it off, in risk of being scolded because of those "pesky, annoying attachments" as Mr. Rogers called them. Just before zipping the bag closed she saw a glossy black phone at the bottom and sighed, turning it off as well (_I don't know why I even have it with me; it has been several days…)_

Ten minutes passed since the lot arrived at the lower level of the Stark Tower and nobody showed up. Some trainees were scattered around the big room: some lying on their backs taking a quick nap, some hitting the punching bags and others tried to manage the archery section, which Jessica avoided for obvious reasons. Jess had her book "_Great Expectations"_ on her lap and her earphones blasting a random playlist. Every couple of minutes she would gaze up from her book and see if there was a change in the scenery, but no one showed up.

Suddenly, someone was blocking the light in front of her. She looked up and saw a black haired guy waving at her and motioning her to take of her headphones. "That's a" he hesitated for a second, running his hand through his curly hair "a great book. I love Dickens" the other trainee told her. She looked up and tried to remember his name, because she's seen him before? (_Jeremy? no. Michael? Chris? Fuck what is it?)_

"Mind if I?" he pointed at an empty space on her right and Jess nodded absentmindedly, going back to her book. "I'm Derek Adams" the guy raised his hand at her after he sat down; Jess looked at him with the corner of her eye and returned the gesture without taking her sight of the book "Jessica Chase." Derek started tapping his fingers in his legs anxiously, "you have any idea what happened to St… I mean, Captain Rogers?" he looked back at Jess. "Nope, no idea. I'm as lost as you" she finished, her eyes still on the book.

"This your first time training with Mr. Rogers?" he asked her.

She sighed; she hated being interrupted while reading. She closed the book and put it away "No, actually I'm almost done with this whole training thing, I don't know why they called me here."

Jessica rested her head against the wall and turned to face Derek. He seemed to be a very handsome guy, not that she ever noticed, being all involved in work and all. His eyes had a honeyed hue to them, like a mix between hazel and brown; and even if he was a short guy, he had a nice built frame on him.

"Have I seen you before?" Jess asked.

"I'm brand new. Well, not brand new _per-se_, but I've been training for S.H.I.E.L.D. for over two months now" he smiled shyly (_wow, he even has the cutest smile I've ever seen.)_

"That's amazing. Well" she stood up, dusting off her pants "it's been a pleasure to meet you Derek. See you around!" Jessica smiled down on him and shook his hand.

She started to walk down towards the water fountain "Jessica, wait" she heard Derek behind her. "Maybe" he looked down at the floor, feeling incredibly awkward, a stray curl falling on his forehead "um. Can I have your, um" he hesitated (_he is so freaking cute)_ "your number, in case I had a question, I mean." He raised his eyes (_goddamn, his eyes) _back at her and she could notice a slight blush forming. She laughed and walked back to her gym bag and pulled up her post-it pad and a pen from one of the pockets. She scribbled her phone number and handed it to him "here, in case you need any kind of help, feel free to call." She smiled at him "and, call me Jessie."

Jess headed again towards the water fountain near the door and started to take a sip. "Missed me?" a low growl said next to her. She jumped in surprise and saw Clint Barton laughing next to her "for a SHIELD agent you are far too jumpy, Jess." "Well, I wasn't expecting anyone to watch me drink water. What? Why are you here, Clint?"

"Stevie wasn't able to help with the training, so Tasha sent me down here to do his dirty work" he looked back at the trainees. He took a step closer to her, his breath close to her face, she couldn't help but shiver. "Maybe we can have our own kind of _training"_ he said, moving an inch closer to her. He ran his hand up and down her arm, the touch making her bite her lip. "Clint. No. Not here" she choked "there are people here and we are not…"

He looked back at the people in the room but they were all busy on the fire arms area. His mouth got too close to her ear "let's ditch. It's been a while since I've seen you and" he kissed her neck "I kinda missed you." She closed her eyes and licked her lips and had to grip his arm to find balance, he knew how to make her crumble.

"No Clint. Don't" she took a deep breath and stepped back, making sure there was enough distance to separate them. "Ms. Romanoff sent you here for a reason and we all sure need the help."

"Hey Jess. You mind if I?" Derek stopped in his tracks, noticing that _Hawkeye_ was talking to Jessica. "Oh man. You're _Clint Barton,_ aren't ya? Wow! It's so great to finally meet you, man." Derek took out his hand at him but Clint just stared at the kid. "Ah, yeah. He was just telling me he was going to take over Mr. Rogers' class" Jess interjected, keeping focused on Clint.

"You know him, Jess?" Derek looked at her with big beady eyes and she could notice Clint was also looking at her mouthing "_Jess"_ and mocking the younger man. She took a deep breath and looked back at Derek "just one time. Anyway, _Agent Barton_, can we get to work, it's been half an hour and we need to get back to work soon." She motioned her head towards the training area and Clint gave her a small grin "sure, _Agent Chase_." And he turned around to the people already looking back at them, "everyone gather on the boxing ring, now!"

People started to scatter and Derek ran back excitedly, telling his friends about meeting the famous Hawkeye. Jess started to walk to the boxing ring, making sure that Clint wasn't too close to her. "So, this _Derek_ guy" he snickered "a friend, huh?" She looked back and saw him walking close to her, but at a safe distance; she mumbled "Yeah. So?" She could hear him laugh behind her "nothing. I just find it cute that _Puppy Eyes McGee_ stares so fondly at you." Now a glint of amusement grazed her voice "is that a hint of jealousy I detect, _Agent Barton?"_ But he didn't answer, he just walked passed her and started giving out instructions to the rest of the trainees. (_Well, now we know what the answer is then.)_

Compared to Mr. Rogers, Clint wasn't actually the best teacher, but he's managed to do a decent job so far. Everyone now was paired up and started to practice some basic fighting moves. Funny enough, Clint thought it was a good idea to pair Jessica with Derek. And she had to admit, the fact that Derek was tiny and just new to SHIELD, he was skilled, making her fall in the floor hard whenever he had to put her down.

Barton moved around the room correcting postures and showing other trainees how to make the correct moves. He landed next to Jessica and Derek and folded his arms "so, show me what you got." Derek motioned Jess forward "ladies first" and took a step back waiting for her to come at him. Seconds later, Jess' knee was pressed against Derek's neck as she held his two arms in place, the guy tapped the floor with his palm twice and she stood up quickly, wiping the sweat off her forehead.

Clint clapped his hands slowly as he walked next to Jessica and padded her back "well, that was good, _Agent Chase"_ he lowered his voice to a whisper "and, kind of a turn-on." Clint walked back to his earlier spot and Jess could feel herself blush in embarrassment. "Agent Adams, your turn" he signaled at the dark haired guy. Jessica stood ready and cocked an eyebrow at Derek "don't go easy on me, Adams." Moments later it was his turn to pin her on the ground, but his face was dangerously close to her. He lingered over her for a second "hey, your eyes. They're b…" Derek was interrupted by Clint's sudden cough "enough fun for both of you, get up."

Jess noticed the change on his tone of voice, sounding suddenly strained. "Everyone, gather up" he howled. A slight circle formed surrounding him, Derek standing close to Jessica. "There is one more thing I wanted to show you before we finish. You" he pointed next to Jess. She froze in place and turned to Derek, who was already walking into the middle of the circle to join Barton.

Derek cleaned off his hands in his sweat pants and asked "so, what do I have to do Agent?" Clint looked straight at him and cocked his eyebrow "just. Just, try and put up a fight." Several of the other trainees hollered at this response, but Jess was starting to get worried. She didn't need to know Clint to be positive that he might hurt the kid.

In a matter of seconds, Clint was throwing himself at Derek and he was able to dodge an incoming blow from the archer. Suddenly Barton hands were tying Derek's neck and kicked his legs, making him fall down to the ground. Clint moved too quickly and now pressed the younger man to the ground, his right arm choking him in the process. Derek padded his hand on the floor, asking to be released. But Clint was staring down at him, growling quietly as he pinned him even harder.

Derek started to pound his hand furiously against the floor but Clint wasn't backing down. Everyone in the circle looked in awe and nobody could move. "_AGENT BARTON. STOP!"_ Jess screamed from her spot and she ran down to the middle, trying to remove Clint from Derek. But he didn't budge; he stood still as Derek kept pounding away in desperation. (_Desperate times call for desperate measures then)_ She took as much force as she could and hit him square in the jaw with her fist, making him fall flat on his back.

She leaned over Derek "are you alright?" she asked. He coughed up, trying to get some air into his lungs "that was intense" he chuckled, but remained on his spot. Jess padded his head "just, stay still and rest for a moment." He smiled at her and she couldn't help but smile at him too, suddenly suppressing the need to kiss him on the forehead.

Jess walked back to where Clint was sitting, rubbing his jaw. "You got a powerful fist there, firecracker" he joked. But Jess stared down at him, anger running through her eyes. He started to stand "is the little guy, ok?" he shifted his gaze to where Derek was lying down and the hovering trainees on him. "What the FUCK were you doing, Clint" Jessica hissed, standing closer to him "you could have killed him. Are you insane?"

Clint laughed "hey, sorry I choked your little buddy there; I didn't know you _cared_ that much about him." But she didn't smile, his cocky smile wasn't having any effect on her; all she could think was about erasing that smug smile from his face.

"There is no reason what so ever" her voice raised up a little "for you to attack him like that."

"Come on, Jess. He is going to be a field agent; he needs to handle intense situations."

"Don't. Don't give me that crap, _Agent Barton_" she huffed. "You act like this when you feel threatened. I've studied your combat styles."

"Wow, I'm flattered." He started to walk to the water fountain, Jess right on his heels. "But I wasn't threatened; I just wanted him to learn to defend himself. As any good SHIELD agent would."

He leaned to take a drink and spit a bit of blood from Jessica's blow. "Are you fucking kidding me, Clint?" And then it suddenly hit her "wait, no. You did not do that" she pointed back at the group of trainees, laughing sourly "were you jealous or something?"

Clint froze in place and turned around to face her. "You are, aren't you?" But his face was stern; she couldn't read his blue eyes or any of his features. He was acting out of jealousy then. (_Why would he, I don't know where we are. We are not even in the same time zone as dating.)_ "I don't think you have any saying on my personal life when I don't have any fucking idea what are we doing, Barton." She took a careful step towards him and whispered "what is this, Clint?"

Barton looked straight into her eyes and laughed "You know what, sweetheart. I guess one time was enough." And he walked out of the training room. Jess' mouth was hanging slightly open, like she was the one who took a blow to the face. She wanted to run out and snap some sense into him; in the back of her mind she knew he hadn't meant what he just said and just did it out of spite. _That isn't like him; he wouldn't have been so sweet just to get me into bed._ But she hesitated for a second, _what if he did?_


	11. Warming up

**Chapter 4: Warming up. **

The tea cup on the table was cold; her tablet next to it and a huge amount of papers surrounded both things, she'd being sorting them since morning and also typing and organizing the information so it would show on the screens around her; having as many as ten backups was mandatory for any information at Stark Enterprises and since she had to sort it all out for her boss it took her longer than anyone else's information.

She lay down on the sofa, facing the ceiling and stretched suppressing a grunt, how she'd love to take a quick nap, but she couldn't, it was time for her to get ready even if she didn't want to.

"Miss Morgan, it's time for you to get ready."

"Yes, thank you, Jarvis" she said organizing the papers as fast as she could and placing them all and her tablet under key before strolling over to the huge bathroom and unzipping the bag to take out her dress and opening the box that contained her shoes.

While she was getting ready styling her hair, doing her make-up, putting on her dress and finally slipping on her shoes; she thought that maybe this wasn't going to be a bad night after all.

Her cellphone vibrated and a message appeared on the screen: "This message is to remind you that I have a reputation to maintain so you better look presentable, Miss Uptight Assistant."

Despite the fact that he managed to annoy her with just a few lines she still smiled before placing her phone inside the purse she'd bought along with the dress and walked to the elevator and down to the front of the building, where oddly enough Happy was not the one taking her to the gala. He wasn't the type of person to be irresponsible and she decided she'd ask what happened to him on Monday.

Using small medieval styled carts to get people up was a great idea, it helped with the vibe of the place and you could hear the medieval music while you went up; she'd never being there before, but she'd always want to and now that she was there she couldn't believe how beautiful it was, being there at night was another experience not everyone got since it usually closed at 5:15pm and the place looked magical.

She walked down the medieval halls, enjoying the way the torches illuminated the place and finally got to the garden where she was supposed to meet her boss. The flashes of the cameras surrounding the obviously famous people that attended the gala and the journalists asking questions prevented her from actually finding him among all the people and maybe he wasn't there yet. She took her phone out of her purse and checked the time, it was almost eight and he wasn't in sight.

She sighed frustrated, was he really going to be late? Or not appear at all? Again? Her phone went off and without looking at the screen she picked it up.

"Hello, this is…"

"Good thing I called, I couldn't tell if it was really you." The voice came from behind her and she turned around to see her boss hang up the phone call and stash his phone back in this pocket as he walked towards her.

"You actually showed up." She said with a sarcastic smile. "I was thinking about the excuse I should give to the journalists."

"Don't give them an excuse; just remind them that I am Tony Stark."

"Yes, well, they already know that."

"That should be enough to silence their questions, Miss Morgan."

"How nice of you to remember my last name. Did you write it down?"

"I knew it since before I met you; I just think you look cute when you are annoyed." He joked. "Aren't you going to mention how handsome I look? There's no need for you to do it, I just like to hear it."

"You need to go and pose for some pictures." She gave him a 'gentle' push and he looked back at her pretending to be mad.

She looked at him from the threshold, he could say he was annoyed at the invasion that the media usually did to his private life, but it was obvious he knew exactly what to do and that he'd always known; she thought how exhausting must be for him to be on constant public display, after about an hour of photos and interviews it was time for the speeches; she stood next to him and listened to them attentively; most of the time people didn't seem to mind when someone was giving a speech, but there was always a meaning behind the words and the inflection used to say them and it was part of her job to know if it involved Stark Enterprises and her boss or not.

Paying attention was difficult since he insisted on holding her from the waist and leaned over to talk about the awfully dressed women and men in his own sarcastic and funny way to which she could only giggle and keep a poker face when someone turned around to see who was talking.

After the speeches were over all the guests were invited to walk around The Cloisters, there were tour guides hired to give them information about the place and the art displayed there, but it seemed that Mr. Stark had a different idea. Leading her by the waist from room to room he was the one that started talking about the paintings and the sculptures and the tapestries and she found herself paying attention to everything he said, who knew he had that amount of knowledge about this place? Despite her own resolution she had to be honest about it: she found him fascinating.

When they got to the Unicorn Tapestries he led her to 'The Unicorn in Captivity' and instead of talking about it and, for the first time during the night, he simply stood next to her, still holding her by the waist and they both looked at it in silence.

In all honesty she'd read just a little about it and as far as she knew there were only theories about what this tapestry represented, but now looking at it up close she could understand how 'the unicorn probably represents the beloved tamed. He is tethered to a tree and constrained by a fence, but the chain is not secure and the fence is low enough to leap over: The unicorn could escape if he wished.'

She sighed, she'd always being interested in unicorns and ever since she found about the place she knew she had to visit, but she never had the time, a hand gripped her arm tightly after the third time she sighed; she didn't know how it happened, but her head was resting on his shoulder and his hand was caressing her arm. Realizing what she was doing she took a step back and blushed profusely; when she opened her mouth to apologize her phone rang and she took advantage of this to walk out of the room and get some fresh air.

As soon as she stepped outside a man dressed as a cup-bearer offered her a goblet of wine and she took it, draining it as soon as she could. (_Get yourself together, Morgan. What were you thinking?_) The call lasted at a few minutes, she really couldn't say how many, but it seemed like her goblet was never empty and she just kept drinking.

A voice announced that the auction was about to start, she was sure her boss would love to bid, but wasn't sure if she should go looking for him, not after what happened; which wasn't much really; however it's not appropriate for an assistant to lean on her boss and actually enjoy it; the same man dressed as a cup-bearer approached her and offered to fill her goblet again to which she nod.

"Thank you." She said with a smile.

"I see you decided to drink. Aren't you supposed to behave?" he had a glass of scotch in his hand.

"Refusing wine in medieval times was bad manners and I don't want to appear rude." she took a sip and looked away.

"Well, it's a good thing your boss doesn't mind if you drink at work." He raised his glass towards her and drank a big gulp. "So, I'm bored."

"I guess you are leaving then." She said taking a long sip from her goblet.

"No, but I already had a few drinks and shook hands with people I don't know and don't care to know."

"Oh, so you want me to entertain you? Because I have a few files you should look at…"

"Work is banned for the night. Tell me about you. What do you do?"

"I work for this genius who helped improve his father's company, making it better and bigger, but likes to drink more than he should, never shows up at work and couldn't remember my last name until tonight." She smirked.

"He sounds like fun. Do I know him?"

"I don't think you do. He never attends any event he's invited to." She extended her left arm and the man filled her goblet again. She wasn't really sure how many she'd had and a voice in the back of her head kept saying that she should stop before things got out of hand, and decided that this would be the last goblet; she knew she shouldn't be drinking the way she was doing it, not after all the trouble she got herself into before.

"Did he buy that dress for you?" he said and grazed his fingers over back.

"I actually picked it; I don't think he actually knows about designers." His touch made her shiver a little and she took a small step sideways to place some distance between them.

"I'm glad you picked that dress…" his tone of voice was serious and he took a step towards her placing his hand around her waist. "You look beautiful," he leaned to kiss her cheek and whispered in her ear, "Elizabeth."

She could feel the color fill her face and stepped back from him, the smell of his cologne surrounding her and his fingers leaving her waist as she placed some distance between them.

"Well, I couldn't afford to embarrass you, could I? I am your assistant and you have a reputation to uphold." She joked trying to lighten the mood.

"You do have a point there and since I still have to uphold it I think it's time for me to leave."

"Aren't you going to bid at the auction? I think there are a few pieces you might like; I'll be happy to bid for you if you want to."

"Aren't you going to get in trouble with your parents if you arrive so late?"

"It's barely midnight and I don't live with my parents." She glared at him.

"That's good to know." He winked at her and she blushed again. (_Stop blushing! He's your boss!_)

"Well, if you don't need me here anymore I guess I should leave." She took her cellphone.

"What are you doing?" he said taking her goblet and giving it to the cup-bearer. "Who are you calling?" he finished his drink and gave it to the man as well.

"I'm going to let Franz know I'm coming back down so he'd have the car ready." she explained.

"Don't bother" he took the phone, hung up and placed it back into her purse. "I already sent him home." He leaned over just inches from her face and smiled mischievously before tucking her hand in the crook of his arm and leading her to the entrance.

She was trying to look like this was normal, but the stares and comments from the people while they walked to the door made her uncomfortable; if someone took a picture of them like this it could be misinterpreted and people might think there was something going on between. Paparazzi were always trying to get pictures of Tony Stark's 'dates' so they could sell them to all the gossip magazines and at least one of those was bound to end being published; so she tried to look like she was nothing more than his assistant.

They finally got to the entrance and he called a valet that was sitting a few steps away.

"You brought your car all the way up?" she asked scandalized. "That's what the carts were for!"

"I don't play by the rules, Miss Uptight Assistant." he gave the card to the valet. "Are you cold?"

"I'm fine" she said putting on her scarf, but he slipped off his jacket and placed it around her shoulders. "You don't have to…"

"You can't get sick. I'm sure your boss will need you on Monday, remember?" he said as the valet opened the door and helped her get inside the car. "So, where do I take you?"

"To my apartment. Since I'm going back earlier than I thought I'd be able to sleep more than I actually thought I would."

"Are you sure you want to sleep early?" he asked in a serious tone of voice and looked at her. "Because I still have that bottle of scotch..."

"I think I already filled my quota for today." This was actually true, her head was a fuzzy and she had the feeling that something had changed between them and for better or worse she liked it.

"In a few minutes it will be tomorrow, should we wait?" he leaned over to her and smiled mischievously, she looked back at him with what she hoped was a serious stare. "Fine, I'll take you to your apartment."

She had to bite her lip to prevent a very inappropriate whimper from escaping them, she'd seen the photos and the videos and the models in his office, but she never imagined she would ever had the chance to sit in his Audi R8 V10 Spyder, the purring of the motor, the smoothness of the fabric when she touched it, the elegance from the outside combined with the beauty of the inside was breathtaking. She concentrated in music that filled the car to take her mind out of the speed; he didn't seem to know that there were speed limits and she made a mental note to check the tickets she was sure he will have on Monday.

The way the car seemed to fly almost made her smile in delight, she'd always loved the thrill of the speed, but then the memory of the lights, the sounds, the smoke and the screaming was too much and she could feel the sweat forming in her palms, the tremor in her hands and the fear starting to grow inside.

She closed her eyes and even when she swore it had only being two seconds she felt the car come to halt and he parked in front of her building, turned off the car and slowly tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Thanks for dropping me off." She said nervously unbuckling herself and trying to take of his jacket.

"Keep it. It's chilly and you can take it back on Monday, unless you invite me over for a cup of coffee." He winked at her.

"Unfortunately" she leaned over to him "I prefer tea." She answered with a small smile. "Good night, Mr. Stark."

"Call me Tony." He took her hand before she got out of the car and kissed it. "Good night, Elizabeth."

His lips on her skin made her shiver, what was she thinking? Yes, flirting seemed to come to him as easily as breathing, but she shouldn't be flirting back, he was her boss and most of all he was Tony Stark, everyone knew he was a player, but still there she was walking up to her apartment and clinging to the feeling of his lips on her skin, his gaze over her and his voice whispering her name in her ear.

She sighed and leaned back on the door after she closed it, without realizing that Jessie was sitting in couch looking at her.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

**Author's note: **I should point out that I have never being to The Cloisters, if there are many mistakes about it I apologize. I had to guide myself with what I could find on the internet. =(


	12. The Break Up

Have you ever had a day so bad, so fucking utterly miserable that you thought things couldn´t get any worse? It´s some kind of Murphy's law that every time things can go wrong they are going to go terribly wrong. The best part of all that is that it usually happens to you on a day when you can't just hide away in your room and drink you weight in Jack Daniels. NO, it has to be on a day when you are busy with the real life and your work.

Tic Tac Tic Tac Tic Tac

The constant sound of the clock inside the meeting room the girl had been in for the last 4 hours was the only thing that kept her sane enough not to snap at her creative group while they brainstorm ideas for the Stark Phone Release Party. Cassidy nodded when she was supposed to and add the first stupid thing that her brain came up with to add to the list of ideas.

The good thing about working with other publicist was that they tended to be so creative and absorb by their work that they didn't notice the mood changes on those around them.

Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale

She sighed for the millionth time, although she did not like to admit it, she had complicated things to an astronomical level. Hell, it was a miracle that no one had called her for a disciplinary action after assaulting a SHIELD Operative. But the most important thing was that Phil had not spoken to her yet. For that she thanked whatever god out there. She just didn't want to deal with a pissed off Agent.

A faint red light flashing took her out of her wanderings, it was her mobile. A text message she didn't wanted to read but had to "_**Come to my office**_". Cassidy automatically deleted the message, seriously, she had no desire to go; meeting Phil meant she will have to face her own stupidity. No thank you. She held the phone tightly in her fist until a crack crossed the screen, great, another cellphone destroyed. What was with her and phones?

A couple of minutes later, there was another text _**Do not make me go up there .I am busy.**_

_**So do I. Leave me alone, please**_ answered the girl

No more texts after that. Score!

The rest of her meeting went without more interruptions. One by one, every member of her team left the room until she was the only one inside. With every passing minute the idea of going home and drinking the bottle of Jack Daniels she had under her bed sounds like a good idea.

"Miss Ryan" Jarvis started making her jump on her seat "Director Potts wants to see you in her office."

Cassidy was tempted to just sit there and not move. In the end the sense of duty and loyalty won, no matter how much fucked up she was, she had responsibilities that were beyond her personal life. "Tell her I am on my way"

"Of course. I took the liberty of asking for new phone for you. Miss Potts PA will give to you"

"Thanks Jarvis"

**ooOoo**

"Please come in" said Miss Potts once Cassidy entered the room. The girl did as she was told and waited for the woman to finish typing on her computer. Once she did, Pepper´s full attention was on the publicist "How are you?"

Cassidy looked at the woman not knowing what she meant

"Today's the 29th" Pepper said with a soft smile. Of course her boss knew about what happens every 29th. Pepper had met her family a couple of times when Cassidy took them to one of the functions or release parties. Also, the woman knew about her brother Alex. Cassidy wasn't the only employee who lost someone on the fight against Loki but she liked to think that Pepper thought a little bit more about her than the rest. After all, she had been the one to appoint her as the New Director of the Communication Department.

"I am fine, thanks for asking" commented Cassidy with a smile on her face.

Pepper looked at her again, more closely this time before sighing "You know you can go home"

"You tell me that every month and I always stay. Not that I don't appreciate the offer, Pepper, because you know I do, It´s just that I prefer to work"

"Working here made most of us workaholics" added the woman leaning against her chair lazing her fingers together before putting her hands on her lap "Phil called" Cassidy stood dead still while she heard what her boss had to say "He asked me if I could make you go down to his office. Apparently you have been ignoring him" she raised an elegant eyebrow at the younger girl "Do I need to worry about it?"

The girls said nothing, just looked down at her own hands

"You know I haven't said anything against your relationship mostly because I know you are a professional and won't let it interfere with your work. I have known Phil longer than you, and I know he is the same. Care to explain then"

"Not really"

"Cassidy, I know today is a hard day for you, I have seen you for the last 6 months going around, doing your work with a zombie expression on your face. But today is different."

"I just… I have been having a bad day, that's all. I don't want to deal with a pissed off Agent"

"Agent?"

"Yeah, because if I go down there I will have to deal with Coulson the Agent and not Phil the boyfriend and I just don't want to. I am afraid if I do, I will end up saying something I will regret."

"He sounded very tired when he called. Maybe you should go" she smiled gently at the scared expression on Cassidy´s face "I won´t order you to go, It is not my place, but If you let me give you a word of advice I think it would be better if you just get over with this."

Cassidy looked at her boss for a moment. She liked to think of Pepper Potts as some kind of friend despite of her being her boss and all; "I will think about it"

"And if things don't go as expected you know you can take the rest of the day off. Just remember to come back tomorrow; I would hate to have to find another Director"

Cassidy assured Pepper that no, even if she had no idea what she was going to do the next hour or so, whatever happened she was going to keep working. Her personal problems weren't going to affect her work. At least that was a promise she could keep. She left the office after that, but didn't return to her own, instead of that she headed to the empty board room she had left minutes before. The place was empty, which was a blessing. Cassidy entered and closed the door behind her before collapsing on one of the chairs. She rested her head on the back of the chair and closed her eyes.

She must have fallen asleep because the next thing she knew was that someone had managed to open the door and a hand on her shoulder was shaking her awake. Cassidy looked up, a bit dazed, to the man standing next to her chair.

Coulson was looking down at her, eyes hard, the hand that was not on her shoulder, curled into a fist "I told you I wanted you in my office"

The girl shook her head, trying to clear the fog that clouded her brain "And I told you to leave me alone" she said without thinking.

Coulson´s mouth stretched into a fine line "I called you about 5 times"

"I broke my phone" she told him remembering that she never picked up her new one from Pepper´s PA "Look, can we just don't do this right now. Not today, I am not in the mood"

The man grabbed her wrist and forced her to stand up. He didn't hurt her but the impression was as strong as if he had done it.

"I am not going to let what happened earlier just go away Cassidy. Come" he commanded, releasing her and stepping aside so she exits the place first. He wasn't taking any chances of her running to hide again. The girl sighed and did as he said, remembering the conversation with Pepper. It was better to just get done with this.

They made their way down to his office, no one stopped the agent for once, and he was radiating so much hostility that THAT alone was enough to keep the other agents out of their way. Once inside the place, he sat at his desk, Cassidy taking one of the chairs in front of it.

"Now, will you explain what was so urgent that you had the necessity of breaking into my office unannounced?"

This was the reason why she didn't want to deal with him, the difference between Phil and Agent Coulson was so big there were times she wondered if they weren't a completely different person. Like maybe he has split personalities or something.

"I had something to discuss with Clint. I am sorry I did what I did but I am not exactly thinking straight today" she admitted even if a part of her thought this was not something she should justify to anyone, especially not her boyfriend.

"I notice" he said, sardonically "And that didn't answer my question"

That was all it took to make her already unstable state snap "What do you want me to say? I already said I was sorry, I know it was the wrong thing to do. That should be enough. I do not have to justify myself to you. Whatever issues I had to discuss with Barton is with him and him alone"

He regarded her with another cold stare but she stood her ground.

"I am an officer of higher rank, you are a liaison for this organization, and you answer to me."

"I answer to Fury, to you only when he is not available" she laughed "This has nothing to do with me working here, is it? You just can´t stand me taking such liberties. You don't want to treat me differently from others but you do, you have and we both know it"

"This topic is not up to discussion, especially not here" his voice was laced with a warning

"It never is, apparently"

"What is that supposed to mean?" he asked

"This" she gestured between them "It's never supposed to be in the open, and I get it. But you know what? If I am going to hide as if I was some kind of shameful thing at least I deserve to know the reason"

"Why do you bring this up now?"

"Because you have never explained, just took for granted I accepted and the funny thing is I simply did. It's not as if I was expecting some kind of faery tale romance, Phillip. I know you are a military man and with that came a lot of weird quirks. All I´m asking is a reason, a real one, of why do we still keep our relationship in secret."

"You know it's not a good idea for people to know"

"God! You made it sound as if I was your dirty little secret" she practically vomited those words. Damn Clint and his fucking mouth for putting stupid ideas on her head that otherwise she would have never consider saying.

His eyes blazed with fury, his voice cold as ice "Don't you dare. You know is not like that"

Cassidy tried to calm herself, he was acting all composed and cool like he always did and she was being the spoiled little brat "Is it because you are afraid someone can use me as leverage? As a liaison that could happen any time, being your girlfriend or not"

"I know that"

"Then why? I am not as badass as to be able to read your mind" she snapped

"Why are you acting like this?" he asked in a tired voice as if just having to be in her presence was too much

"Because I am tired, can't you understand that? I am tired of all of this" the moment those words left her mouth she regret them immensely.

Phil looked at her with a surprised expression. None of them said a word; silence stretched around them until you could actually cut the tension with a knife if you tried. Then, all of sudden he got up from behind his desk, gathered a pile of files in his arms and left the office without another word.


	13. Liquid Courage

She wasn't one to drink too much, but every time she had a big issue she had a hard time dealing with, Jess will go to the nearest bar and get herself beer after beer after beer. Sure, it's not the smart thing to do, but ever since she was 23 she developed sort of a "sixth sense." She knew how many she should have before getting completely drunk, and tonight, she surpassed the limit.

Jess had gotten out early from work and decided to just let herself go. Clint had taken a toll on her life in no time. Ever since her last destructive relationship, she had promised herself she wouldn't get in too deep very fast, but Barton managed to crack her composed self in a day. And then broke her into pieces less than 48 hours ago.

She sat on the bar with one cold beer in her hand, looking vaguely at the TV that was playing some random 80's music video. She took a large sip of the brown bottle and put it in place, quickly noticing that it was already empty; she placed it next to the other 4 bottles that were scattered next to her.

"Hey" she pounded on the bar, trying to get the bartender's attention "dude. Hello?" she waved at the guy, who was working the other side and ignored her. She huffed loudly and leaned over the counter to see the stack of bottles placed at hand; she took a quick look at the guy, but he was busy tending the other side. She took a glass and a bottle of tequila from below the counter and started to pour herself a generous amount of the clear liquid.

Jess took to big gulps of tequila before setting the bottle back in place. She stood up, quite unstable, and took a bunch of bills stacked from her pocket and threw them on the counter. She took her leather jacket and put it on as she exited the bar, the freezing air suddenly shaking her to the core.

She looked both ways, trying to remember the safest way to get back to her apartment, and headed towards the left. _It shouldn't be too long, I'm like… Five blocks away from the loft, I'll make it. _

"Hey there, pretty girl? You have a light?" a guy approached her from her right, she hadn't noticed this lanky, tall guy when she started walking, but just to get him out of her hair she nodded and took her silver lighter out of her left pocket.

Jess flicked it open with her finger and extended it to the guy. He leaned on the open flame and lighted the cigarette. She noticed two other guys standing feet from them, looking incredibly suspicious at her, but she shrugged it off.

"Pretty jacket you got there, beautiful" the man continued as he grazed his hand against her arm, his husky voice creeping her out. "Sure, thanks" she finished, trying to walk as fast as she managed; _those fucking beers were not a good idea now, huh Chase?_

She could hear steps behind her as the man started to close in on her; her heart started to pound fast, it's been the first time since she started living in New York that she had this type of situation. New York City was a known place to brew trouble on every corner, after all. Jess saw the street corner close to her as she jogged to it, the clicks of her heels against the cement growing stronger.

She stopped on her tracks, noticing one of the men that were staring at her a few minutes ago, was leaning against the wall of a building. "Come on. Make this easy on us. Just, give us your jacket, phone and money and we'll be on our way" he snickered, walking slowly towards her. _Fuck, fuck, FUCK._ She started to back away from him slowly but was cut short by the guy with the cigarette.

Jess took a quick rundown of the area she was in: not that many cars or passersby, a couple of empty buildings and mostly closed stores (_of course, it's almost 2a.m.)_ She thought about how she would handle herself next, she's a trained SHIELD agent and she would be able to take down two thugs by herself; _not while you're drunk, stupid._

Her hands balled into fists quickly and decided who to go at first. She looked from the corner of her eye and took a deep quick breath as the men closed in on her. She used her right hand to hit the cigarette guy's jaw and he fell back a couple of steps. The guy on her right threw his fist at her and she quickly ducked and rolled onto her left.

"Fucking bitch" the guy spit at her, rubbing his sore jaw in the process. He ran at her and tried to hit her, but again she ducked and jumped back, making her trip on an open manhole and falling flat on her back, hitting her head against the cold asphalt. "Ouch" she mumbled as she rubbed her head; she saw the shadows of the men approaching her and then, she heard a slight thud.

"Wha… Who the fuck are you?" She tried to raise her head to see what happened but a ringing in her ears and a predictable headache forced her to lie down and close her eyes. "That is no way to treat a lady, fellas" a third voice rang (_fuck no, not right now.)_

All she could hear now were grunts of pain, punches hitting flesh, bones crackling and bodies falling hard to the street. Jess took a deep breath and started to get up carefully, ignoring the buzzing on her head. Her vision was slightly out of focus, so she tried to blink several times to regain her sight; she managed to stand up straight but now the world was spinning and she almost fell to her knees.

Someone had caught her by her right arm "you should get your head checked." She turned around and squinted, recognizing her so called _hero_. He was giving her a wide smile and somehow, those blue eyes managed to sparkle when she looked straight at them; "the fuck are you doing here, Barton? Get the fuck away from me" Jess grunted and tried to let go, but as soon as she took another step, her feet failed her and she was stumbling into his arms again.

"You have a weird way to say thank you, Jessica"

"I don't need you. I could have done it all by myself" she said against his chest (_when did the whole world decide to spin faster than normal?)_

He laughed hard, shaking her at the process "sure, sure. So you were just casually resting in the middle of the street before you kicked these guys' asses?" he motioned his head to where the men were, certainly unconscious.

"So what if I did?" she lied. She closed her eyes, trying to get the world from spinning and she concentrated on Clint's soft heartbeat. "It's not like you should care" her voice a faint whisper against him. He started breathing slowly, and she could sense every muscle tensing in his body, as well as his heart beating faster now. "Are you ok, Jessica? Want me to take you home?" he spoke into her ear softly (_this doesn't help me at all.)_

She grunted and took a step back, everything setting into place (_not as much as I wanted, but I think I can.)_ "I'm fine. I can get home all by myself" she started to walk slowly towards the direction of her apartment, ignoring Clint's penetrating gaze. She tripped on her feet (_seriously? What the hell? How can my feet fail me right now? Fuck)_ and she had to lean against a lamp post.

Jessica looked down and started to breath slowly (_I can do this. I can get there.)_ But the world started moving under her feet again as she felt she was being picked up by two arms and pressed against a hard body. "Now, now; I don't think you'll be able to get home if you keep falling down on yourself, Jessie" Clint said, as he started to walk into her loft's direction.

She squirmed on his arms, trying to release herself from his hard grip "Let. Me. Go. NOW!" she grunted, but he held her too tight, but not enough to harm her. He ignored her protests and just kept walking at a safe pace; they stayed quiet for the rest of the walk, she looked up at him and his jaw was clenched tight and he kept looking on straight. She felt safe all of the sudden, the embrace of his arms surrounding her legs and holding her back, tying herself to him. She smiled to herself and snuggled her head into his chest, still hearing his heart beating.

Lucky for him, someone was actually entering the apartment building at almost 3 o'clock in the morning, so he was able to get himself and Jessica inside before the door closed. He looked up at the stairs and remembered something Cassidy had mentioned about "having to walk three flights of steps up to her apartment every single day." He looked down at Jessica's face, sleeping peacefully in his arms; _this would be much more helpful if you hadn't decided to suddenly take a nap._

He got to the landing in front of a door with a shiny bronzed 3 on it. He knocked lightly on the door, thinking either Cassidy or the other roommate could get the door, but there was no answer. He looked down at Jess and saw her eyes flutter in her sleep which made a small smile for on his face.

"Ok, there has to be a spare key around here somewhere" he whispered to himself, looking down at the hardwood floor, he expected to see a plant or a small rug, because that's what people usually leave their keys at. "This will do the trick" he said once he spotted a small fire extinguisher on a red box almost close to the door. He looked next to the red cylinder but there was nothing there; he raised his gaze to the top of the box and saw a glistening silver key lying there.

He tried to ease Jessica up so he could lift his left hand and pick it up between his fingers. Clint walked back towards the door and unlocked it; he got into the low lighted living room and pushed the door closed with his foot, trying to be as quiet as possible. He saw the open door to a room and walked towards it, placing Jess softly on the bed; she squirmed when she noticed the familiar mattress and rolled onto her side, trying to reach her pillow.

Clint stayed on the doorframe and watched her for a second, trying to make a choice: _Should I stay? Nah, maybe I should leave; she'll get pissed off at me if I do._ So he makes it quietly towards the front door but he's suddenly stopped by a whisper that comes from Jessica's room. _No, just, go home, Barton. Don't… _

Jess was hugging her pillow, her head resting on top of it; _the hell, she's so cute when she is sleeping._ And there it was: the mumbling he heard before, and his mind was probably playing tricks on him because he was sure she was saying his name in her sleep. She hugged the pillow closer and he was sure she smiled as she said his name again. _That's our signal to move, NOW._

He shook his head, trying to erase any stupid ideas from his mind and started walking towards the door again. Clint heard a door squeak and turned towards the sound. Cassie's face was serious and he was sure she had just growled at him when she saw him standing in the doorway.


	14. Panda

Cassidy Pandora Ryan wasn't a girl that drank until she couldn't remember her name, unless it involved her middle name, she hated that one. No, she enjoyed drinking on social gatherings or once in a while alone in her apartment while reading a good book, but there were a few situations in life that required one to drink their own body weigh in Whiskey. Today or the day before taking into consideration that it currently was 2:57 am, after blowing it up with a friend, be remembered by your older brother what a lousy sister and daughter you were, got dumped by your boyfriend and had 5 stitches in your hand kind of want to make forget for a while.

Currently she was on her bed looking absently at the ceiling of her bedroom, a bottle of Jack Daniels on her bedside table. She hadn't cry after her pathetic break down on the office. After making the doctor fix her hand she told Pepper she was going home for the rest of the day. Bless her, her boss didn't ask questions about it. She made it home and the first thing she did was to dive under her bed to take out one of the 3 bottles of Whiskey she had stock there since Caine had gave them to her.

The logical part of her brain told her that it wasn't a good idea, she had work in the morning and alcohol had never solved a damn thing in anyone's life but the other part…the one that usually shuts up your conscience said _What the hell?. _So, there she was, drunk out of her ass waiting for something to happen. Cassidy heard the door opened, she wasn't sure if it was Jessie or Elizabeth until she heard the door of Jessie´s room open. She got up, took the bottle in her hand thinking that maybe her friend would want to share a drink with her, the problem was the moment she opened the door, who she found standing in her living room was Clint.

"What the fuck are YOU doing here, Barton?" she stood still, the bottle of scotch lingering from her hand.

"I just dropped your friend there" he pointed to Jessica's door. "She had a run in with some…"

"You know what" the girl interrupted "Just shut up." She took a sip from the bottle and huffed in frustration as she realized it was empty. Who cares? There were two more from this one had come from. Cassidy closed the door behind her and started to walk towards the archer, poking one finger into his chest "I hope you are happy. Now I am just like you said I was."

"What are you talking about?"

The clueless expression on his face made her wanted to hurt him "Didn't you say that I have no right to talk about relationships because I wasn't on one?" her voice started to rise, anger fogging her mind. "Well, now I am not, so congrats for been right. I guess we should tell Fury I am not the only one with prediction powers around anymore." She turned around and headed towards the bedroom; picked her car and house keys from her dresser and slipped her feet into a pair of sneakers.

"The hell is the matter with these women?" he said to himself, but Cassidy quickly turned around on her heel and shut the door. Next thing he saw was the empty bottle coming at him and he quickly ducked, covering his head with his hands, the glass shattering behind him against the brick wall.

She walked up to the main door and took her jacket from a perch and pointed at Barton, who was still ducked on the floor "you better get the fuck out of here before I come back. Or the next bottle I throw won't miss its target" she hissed at him, closing the door behind her. She practically ran down the stairs and exited the apartment building but once outside she didn't know where to go. She had her car keys in hand but said vehicle was parked in the underground parking lot and the guard wasn't going to let her go anywhere in her state. Luckily for her, there was a cab parked at the end of the street.

"To Central Park." she said to the driver the moment she entered the car. It took her 10 minutes to get there. She handed the man a couple of bills, they could have been a couple of 20 or 100, she didn't care and the driver didn't say anything. It took her a while longer than the drive there to be able to locate the building she was looking for. Cassidy entered the place and rode the elevator to the 3rd floor. She walked until she was standing in front of the apartment 304 and tried for a while to open the door with her own key, sadly she was far too gone to be able to distinguish which was the right key.

It was at the time when the key ring slipped from her hands that Cassidy lost her patience and started pounding on the door "Open up". There were noises on the other side of the door as she kept pounding, not caring if she was making a scene. The door opened a couple of minutes later revealing a tall guy with black hair, black eyes and a expression a mixture of tiredness and irritability which change the moment he saw the girl in front of his home.

"Panda?"

"GOD, don't call me that!" Commented the girl while trying to bed to pick up her keys. "I am not enough drunk for this."

"Wow!" said the man placing his arm around her waist to prevent her to end up face on the ground. ""Thank God, last time you got really wasted you couldn't find your way out of your bed. Come inside, baby" he made their way into his home, the girl following without complain. He let her sat on the sofa before going back to the door, picking her keys and then locked his front door.

Caine Ryan was Cassidy´s older adoptive brother. As children, they had been very close. The older boy took care of the little thing that was his sister and enjoyed doing it. But as times passed they grew apart, he went to college and graduate as a kinder garden teacher and when she graduate too she started working for Stark industries and seamed to never had time for her family outside of an sporadic lunch date every other Sunday. Things got worse after Alex´s death. The last time he had seen her had been at their brother´s funeral, after the ceremony the girl had simply vanished. This was the first time he saw her in more than 6 months. HE took a long look, measuring the state of Cassidy form, her red eyes, her mess of a hair, the obvious stink of whiskey but most of all her posture, her complete body expression was screaming _Please kill me_ and that scared the shit out of him. He left her things on the coffee table and sat next to her. He didn't talk, not sure of what to say let alone what the hell was happening.

She was the first one to break the silence "I am sorry" she whispered looking at the empty space.

"Don't be silly, Panda." he tried to assure her "You know you can come here whenever you like." he smiled waiting for her to look back. Eventually she did, her eyes shining with unshed tears.

"I am a bad person." she said out of the blue.

He pulled her into a tight hug, kissing the top of her head "Of course not, why do you even think that?"

"Because I ignore you and Alex, I hit people and made my boyfriend mad." Cassidy managed to say between hiccups.

Caine was dumbstruck buy that, he wasn't sure if this was her or the alcohol talking and wished that was the alcohol because if not he was going to hit something. He knew that of all the family, she was the one that mourned Alex´s death the most and also knew how hard but his sister wasn't a violent or bad person "Ok. Ok, you are going to have to calm down and tell me what happened because right now you are not making any sense."

And so she talked, she told him everything about what had happened the day before. She told him about her roommate and Clint, she told him the reason why she ignored him for so long. She even told him about Phil from the time she met him to the present. Of course, she omitted some important details, like who Clint really was and what did he and Phil work at. When she finished, she was lying across the couch, her head on his lap, eyes closed. Time passed slowly as Caine tried to analyze all the things she just said. On one hand he realized he didn't know anything about her, not really, the girl lying half asleep on his lap could be a perfect stranger for all he knew. On the other he wanted to rip this Phil person's head.

Funny how things worked, she just told him she assaulted a grown man she consider a friend, twice, that she had cut her hand with a piece of glass, which made her drinking dangerous because she had to be on painkillers, made a scene at work but the only thing he could think of was this Phil who was 20 years older that her, a coworker and her baby sister's former lover. GAH, lover, he wanted to throw up just by thinking of it. He wasn't a fool, he may always see Panda as the little baby his parents' brought home but he also knew she was now a woman, and with that came the "boyfriend" problem. What he couldn't stand was to think about the age difference, but most of all, about how things had gone down. For all she told him, it was up to this man to behave like an adult. Again, Pandora might be a 23 years old "adult" yet you can compare that to a 44 year old man. Which make that entire "relationship thing" weird. Why would his sister put up with someone who could be her father? She was a responsible, mature girl, yes, yet hooking up with someone who had to be way too set on his ways wasn't the smartest thing to do.

Caine sighed, he was not entitle to say anything about yet it was up to him to go kick some sense in this man´s head if necessary "Don't worry," he said still petting her head, "I will make things better."

Cassidy laughed softly. "That's why I have you."

The man stopped for a fraction looking at his sister had just closed her eyes but had a smile on her lips. "That´s right, baby Panda" he whispered leaning to kiss her on the forehead "I promise."


	15. Coffee

Her head didn't stop ringing; this is the worst part about drinking her feelings away. And the fucking sunlight hitting her right in the face wasn't helping her either. She turned around on her side and took her pillow (_wait, when did I get home anyway?)_ and held over her head, trying to block the noise of the growing traffic outside.

Once she closed her eyes it all started to come back to her, quite fast actually: the six pack of beers and half a bottle of tequila, trying to run off and fight those guys, hitting her head against the cold asphalt (she unconsciously rubbed the small bump in the back of her head) and there was Clint. He had picked her up (_wait, did he?)_

She opened her eyes to scan the room, but she didn't need to go far, Barton had taken a chair and was now sleeping, quite uncomfortably, next to her bed, his feet propped up on the mattress. "Shit" she mumbled to herself, pressing the pillow against her face in embarrassment and cursing against it.

"Why the… Again? " she thought to herself. She closed her eyes shut and tried to see if there was something else she might have missed, but nothing happened; one eye peered out beneath her pillow as she scanned his frame and quickly hid again.

"No, this didn't happen… It couldn't have" she turned around again and the headache just got worse. _Oh man, I need me some coffee._ Jess sat straight on the edge of the bed and noticed the black leather of her boots still on her feet. She padded herself up and down and noticed that in fact she was still wearing the same outfit from last night. "Thank God" she said, a bit too loudly and she quickly turned back but Clint was sleeping deeply.

His arms were folded together tightly and she noticed it was a becoming a usual thing of his, maybe his rough childhood had made him so closed and protective of himself. But something in this image was not normal; his face looked quite peaceful, even with his brow furrowed, he looked like what she could imagine a younger Clinton Barton would look like.

The pounding in her head interrupted the moment, so she got up as quietly as possible towards her dresser. She took out a pair of shorts and a tank top and started to tip toe towards her bathroom, but that damn loose floor board creaked under her foot and it woke up Clint with a start, falling comically to the floor.

She stood on the doorway and tried to choke a laugh. He got up quickly and fixed himself up; he noticed she was standing in the doorway holding her clothes on her hands. They looked at each other for what it seemed to be minutes on end, not saying a word.

"Ah. I… Um… I'm gonna go change"

He ran his fingers through his hair "sure."

Jess shut the bathroom door behind her and sat on the floor. _What now? Should I just kick him out? Why did he stay? Fuck! _She pressed her hands against her face and banged her head against the door. She took a deep breath and stood up, facing the sink, she let the faucet fill up and she splashed her face with cool water, which made her feel a lot better, (_I just need to calm down, I'll figure it out)_ and changed into more comfortable clothes.

Her head peered out of the door of the bathroom and she saw him sitting on one of the benches of the kitchen island, his head propped up over his arms. Jessica left the bathroom quietly and headed towards the kitchen, not taking her gaze from the floor. (_Shit, what the hell am I supposed to do now?) _

"Um, hi."

His eyes looked straight at her and she could swear they got even brighter. "Morning, sleepy head." He gave her a small smile and the uncomfortable silence fell on them again, the tension growing by the second. It was now Clint's turn to break the stillness "Now that we know you are not dead, I should go" he stood up and pointed towards the door.

"No. Stop. I at least have to repay you for bringing me back and saving me from a concussion" she joked, moving closer. "I've been told I make the best coffee in the whole Tri-State area" she moved around the kitchen, checking on a counter for a fresh pressed bag of coffee "how about you give it a try?" She finished, holding two mugs lightly in her hands.

Clint looked down at his watch, "I guess I could stay then." He sat back down on the opposite side of the island, her back facing him. She started to pour the coffee into the machine, her heart beating incredibly fast (_I should have worn something more appropriate.)_ She could feel his eyes linger on the curve of her hips, the length of her legs and her lightly exposed back.

She turned around with both steaming mugs of coffee on her hands and placed one neatly in front of him. "Here you go, enjoy" she said just as she pulled the mug close to her, letting the smell sink in. He smiled at her and took the coffee cup to him just at the same time she did hers.

And for the third time today the silence took over the room. She leaned against the sink and he was still seating on the bench, both holding the mugs for dear life. "I" they both said in unison, making them laugh for a couple of seconds. "You go first" he said.

"Thanks for… Bringing me home, you know? You" she looked down at her naked feet "you shouldn't have. You probably had better stuff to do and I made you stay here all night."

"Jessica, shut up. I was just walking by the bar last night and I… I felt like I had to intervene. And no" he looked straight at her amber eyes "I didn't have anything to do. Better to know that you were safe" he finished, taking a gulp of coffee. Jessica was sure she blushed from the roots of her hair to the tip of her toes "well, thanks, anyways" she said softly.

"Want more coffee?" she mumbled, lowering her gaze towards his cup.

"That's ok. I think better go."

Jessica was not that happy he had to leave, his presence, whether it was uncomfortable or not, was something she wanted. "Oh. Alright" she answered, a sad tone straining on her voice. She took her mug and leaned to pick up Clint's empty one, accidentally brushing their fingers together.

She quickly took the cup and turned around to place it inside the sink, but her trembling fingers got the cup to shatter on the floor "Shit." She leaned down to pick up the biggest pieces with her bare hands and was surprised to find him crouching on the floor with her.

"Let me, I'll take care of it" he interjected, as he tried to take the bits from her hand.

"No, I'm ok. I got it" she quickly pulled away from him "fuck. Ouch!" She took her finger in her other palm and pressed it down, trying to stop the bleeding that came from one of the shards of ceramic. Clint stood up slowly, picking up from what was left from the mug and tried to take her cut hand away to examine it.

"Don't. I'll be alright" she tried to move away but he held her hand steady.

"Now don't be such a big baby and let me see" he demanded, a smirk forming in his face. He held her hand closer to his face and saw a gash running down her index finger. "Well, you will survive this one. It's not something to worry about" he laughed as he looked straight into her eyes. He pulled her hand closer to his lips and sucked the wound, removing the incoming blood.

Her heart started to pound faster and the tension that was already there grew incredibly. Jessica's breath started to speed up, her chest visibly rising up and down; he was still holding her hand in his and his gaze didn't leave her eyes. And everything that had happened in the last couple of days vanished as he took her face and forced a kiss on her. Jess wasn't able to resist and just melted into him, letting his lips take over hers and pressed herself against him.

_God, I missed this._

She placed her hands around his neck and started tugging on his hair, making her moan against his lips. He placed his hands around her waist and picked her up and placed her softly on the counter. She started to kiss down his neck and back up to his ears, making him shiver and pulled her away to kiss her hard, his tongue making way through her lips.

Jessica didn't need any words to describe this feeling. Yes, she knew better than doing this, but he was overwhelming and everything that happened vanished into thin air. All she needed right now was Clint.

The phone rang, making Jess face towards it. He tugged on her chin and made her face him "leave it" he whispered against her lips, as kissed her again.

The phone rang again.

And again.

"Hey Jessie, its Derek. I was just wondering. It's Tuesday and you haven't showed up at work. And, to be kinda honest, I was getting worried, cause you usually don't miss a day. Anyway. Ah, call me. Or not. Hope everything's ok."

Jessica felt Clint stiffen. She opened her eyes and saw that his eyes were squeezed shut. "Clint? What's wrong?" she caressed her fingers on his chin. But he stood back, every single muscle on his body tense and his hands balled up into fists. She stood still for a second and lowered herself from the counter; she stood closer to him, trying carefully not to startle him.

"Clint? Please." She beckoned.

"I" he took a deep breath "I need to go."

_It's happening again._

"You are not fucking doing this to me again, Clinton Barton. What's with this stupid jealousy bit you play?"

"Don't you fucking dare run away again, Clint" she said as he was walking out the door.

She took the other mug and threw it to where he stood a few seconds ago, the ceramic shattering in front of the door. _Now, that was kind of metaphorical, actually._


	16. Sisters

The last thing she thought she'd find in their living room when she opened the door to their apartment was a very angry looking man that glared at her for a few seconds before realizing that she was not the one he should be glaring at and turned his back to her.

"Agent Barton" she said as cold as she could and he nodded at her before she went to her room. She noticed the shards of glass on the floor and the remaining liquid dripping on the wall, what the hell had happened there? And who was it? Jessie? In that case she was probably in her room and honestly she wasn't going to argue with Clint Barton's presence there; she quickly packed a bag with what she'd need. No, she never stayed over at the office, but she was sure as hell not going to stay at the apartment tonight.

Going out of her room she walked as slowly as she could towards the door, he was looking outside the window and she was sure he was paying attention to the sound she was making; yes, she may not be as trained as they were and she may not be a S.H.I.E.L.D agent, but if she as much as tried to say anything to him about Jessie while he was as angry as he seemed to be then he would probably knock her out faster than she could think she could actually block him.

Just as she was hailing a cab she felt a sigh escape her lips and realized she'd being holding her breath, she looked back to the apartment, it was dark and she was sure he was following her with his eyes, the elusive Hawkeye, nothing escaped his sight and she knew it; if he was there to be with Jessie then they deserved time alone and she wasn't going to be the one saying no, maybe things would work out for them. Her friend just had to get herself together and accept him the way he was, realize he would always be the way he was and he had to accept the fact that if he stayed then things would probably be like this all the time.

It was really not her place to say anything, but lately she was starting to worry not only about Jessie, but about him too. The whatever thing they had was hurting her and getting him out of balance more than it was healthy for either of them and knowing how stubborn he was he would never say it and knowing Jessie she would never leave him, no matter if she was distraught more than she was comfortable. She sighed and wished that whatever happened they would both be happy.

She laughed at her own concern for a man she barely knew and a woman she now considered a sister; she told the driver to take her to Stark Enterprises and leaned back on the seat, pinching her nose a little harder than she should she noticed how much her life changed ever since getting the job she was fond of and didn't want to let go.

The information she knew and the people she met was amazing, but weary; maybe it was time to request at least basic S.H.I.E.L.D training, what if the next time she got to their apartment it wasn't Clint Barton but one of the many agents that worked for the organizations that antagonized S.H.I.E.L.D or Stark? Not just for her, but for Cassidy and Jessica, they had had training, Jess was an agent and Cass at least knew the basics and she didn't want to be a burden to them if a situation like that one ever showed up. She laughed when she the thought that they'd be like Charlie's Angels popped in her head.

Going back up the office she decided to text Cass and Jessie to let them know that she was going to sleep out, after all nobody ever used the bedroom that Mr. Stark decided to build in his office at the remodeled Stark Tower.

"Good night, Miss Morgan."

"Good night, Jarvis." She said and closed the door the office.

"Staying over?" a smile appeared on her face, she tended to forget that Jarvis was the all seeing AI and, though for normal people it would be something weird, she considered him a friend.

"Yes, my apartment it's kind of crowded today and it's better if I get a head start on the release party." She placed his jacket inside the closet, inhaling the scent of his cologne before mentally scolding herself for doing so.

"Let me pull that information up for you."

"Thank you" she took off her jacket and placed it on the sofa.

She walked over the desk in which the images where displayed and started working on sorting it out, after a few minutes of working in silence she brew a cup of tea, sent the hovering images towards the screen in the coffee table in front of the sofa so she could sit down and work from there.

Happily enough Cassidy and her team were amazing, the information was perfectly sorted and she liked all the ideas she read and highlighted the ones that her boss would probably like more than the others, not like he was going to check it; he was fine with her approving it and since everything also went to Miss Potts there wasn't any issue with the last approvals. He usually just signed the papers and that was it.

The tower was almost empty and since nobody actually came up to the top of the tower she decided that she needed to break the silence.

"Jarvis, would you please play some music? This silence is becoming too much for me." Of course she wasn't going to admit that the real thing that was happening to her was that she couldn't stop thinking about what had happened and the music would be a good distraction. She didn't want to remember the screaming again, the police cars, the insults, the disappointed faces and the hate in his family's eyes. Why was she remembering this now? All this time she'd been able to suppress those memories, of course it wasn't healthy, but going back to where she used to be was not something she wanted to do.

"Should I play the usual selection?"

"Yes, please." The Four Seasons by Vivaldi started to play and she smiled thanking whatever Gods or Goddesses were out there for the beauty of music. It had always being a sanctuary for her and while the beautiful music surrounded her she started to work frantically.

She started to doze off, she'd being up for hours and didn't even know how many anymore, she hadn't had a good night sleep on Saturday or Sunday and she was tired. She had to go to the bedroom and sleep, but before she knew it she fell asleep on the sofa.

A voice woke her up and she sat back up startled before looking at the clock, it was five forty-five in the morning and she wasn't in the mood for such an early start. Taking in her surroundings she realized that she was indeed at Stark Tower and she'd slept on the sofa.

"I'm sorry for waking you up, Miss Morgan, but you have an appointment at eight o'clock with Doctor Banner and you set up the alarm for this hour."

"Yes, I remember." She stood up and walked over to the window looking at the city beneath her feet. "Would you mind locking the front door, Jarvis? Tell Doctor Banner I will wait for him in the lobby as we agreed."

She smiled when she heard the door locking itself, she took the overnight bag in her hand, opened the door behind the counter to the bedroom and then to the huge bathroom. It was really early and so she was going to take her time in the shower.

It was so weird that she'd used the bathroom twice and the actual owner never used it.

"Jarvis, I have an old playlist here," she plugged the small music device she'd found in her bag "please, copy and play it."

"Right away, Miss Morgan."

Getting into the shower she started to sing along to the playlist she'd forgotten about, it had being a while since she actually enjoyed singing the songs in that playlist and it felt really good.

Suddenly she realized that she was crying even thought the music wasn't sad, she hadn't really mourned what happened and the songs just triggered the memories, she just studied and then worked every single day and just avoided all those songs because if she sang either of them it reminded her of him and how they met, their first kiss, their plans for the future, they way he smiled, they way he laughed and the always sweet way he kissed her in the forehead when he wanted to show how much he loved her. She stood under the water for a few minutes letting her tears go away with the stream, she had to compose herself again and go back to reality, she had work to do, people to see, things to read and sort, this was just a breather, one she hadn't allowed herself for a while, but it was over.

"Miss Morgan there's a package addressed to you at the front desk. Should I have someone bring it up?" the AI voiced said just as she finished putting on her makeup.

"Don't worry, I have to go down anyway, I'll pick it up. Thank you, Jarvis. "

Damn her anxiety at Clint Barton's presence, she'd left in such a hurry that when she was getting dressed she realized that she had picked the wrong blouse and now she will have to wear her jacket all day.

She walked back to the office to pick it up as fast as she could and then go down to pick up the package and still be on time to meet Doctor Banner, she didn't like being late. She stretched over the sofa to pick up her jacket, her back exposed due the small mix up with her blouse when she heard a soft laugh behind her.

"So... Does that have any special meaning or you just were too drunk when you got it?"

"Mr. Stark!" she gasped in surprise and turned around as fast as she could. "How odd for you to be here so early in the morning."

"Come on!" he smiled at her, "Don't avoid the question; I'm far too curious now."

"I wasn't drunk, if that's where you are going."

"Oh, you know me so well" he added, sarcastically. "Really, what's with the ink?"

"I... mmm... I got it when I was 16. Music is the one constant in my life and I wanted something to show that." She said before noticing that she was actually sharing more information than she wanted to. "I don't think this is the first time you've seen one, is it?" he looked amused at her sudden burst.

"Being Miss Uptight Assistant and all; I wouldn't have guessed you'd have one. It's intriguing."

"Well, you may think you know me, but there are a lot of things you don't know, Mr. Stark." Anger started to build up inside her and it wasn't towards her boss, but towards her own vulnerable moment.

"Like what?" he walked up to her. "Tell me more." Her voice seemed to have vanished, she couldn't really think about what to say. "What? Not so cocky after all, are you?"

"Wouldn't want to take away your first place medal, would I?" she smirked. "I don't want you to feel bad because you're not first place every single time."

"That's fine with me..." he laughed "I just like this feisty side of yours. Very exciting."

"Well, I'm sure it must be a relief to be able to talk with a girl that can actually use her brain and answer your comments." She smiled despite her resolution to try and keep a cool façade.

"You keep doing that and it turns me on, Elizabeth, and" he whispered in her ear, "you don't know what you'll get yourself into if I do." She pulled away and he smirked. "Fine, but let the record show that Tony Stark usually gets his way." He walked to the bar and popped up a glass.

"Isn't it a little early to be drinking, Mr. Stark?"

"It's always 5pm somewhere. Anyway, besides driving me insane with that tattoo, why are you here so early?"

"Somebody has to work around here, don't you think? However I do wonder what are you doing here so early. Did you need me for something?" He chuckled, but before he could answer she cut him off. "Well, now that you're here, there's some information about the release party for the Stark Phone you should check. I already sorted out the things you might like and Jarvis has all the information."

"Just so you know I am appalled by that tattoo and I'll have to tell your boss about it." He walked towards the screen and pulled up the information. He started looking at the graphs and she just walked over to him and left a folder with papers near his hand.

"I thought you wanted me to be less uptight, Mr. Stark... there's really no way to please you." She said smirking at him.

"There is but you just don't play along with me. Anyway, anything else I need to know? Another location of another tattoo?" he looked up and gave her a big grin.

"I always thought that a game is much more interesting when you have an opponent, not someone that plays the same way you do. Makes it a little bit more challenging." she grinned back and put on her jacket. "Besides what's the fun in finding out if I tell you before hand?" she joked.

"There is one thing I'll find out right now" he walked towards her, placed his hand behind her neck and kissed her fast and hard, he pulled back enjoying her look of surprise for a few seconds and then walked back to the screen. "Your move then." he starts moving graphics around "Now go, Bruce must already be down there waiting for you; I don't want you to unleash the other guy; fixing the building the first time around was hard enough." She cleared her throat trying to erase the blush from her face.

"I don't think Doctor Banner would lose his control over something as small as me being on time instead of being there earlier as I always do. Before I forget," she walked over to him and whispered in his ear "I left your jacket in the closet; I hope you don't mind me sleeping with It." she walked to the door and opened it. "Your move."

"Just so you know I plan my moves ahead of time..." He gives her a big smile and she closes the door.

Walking over to the elevator she realized that she just did what she said she wasn't going to do; how come that in less than a week he'd gotten her to drop the barrier that took her years to build?

She reached the lobby, looked around for Doctor Banner, but since he wasn't there she went to the front desk to pick up the package; while she was starting to open it a black haired man bumped into her, pushing her aside a little bit hard, but before she could actually tell him to be careful she heard what he was saying.

"I need to see Phillip Coulson!"

"I'm sorry, sir, do you have an appointment?"

"No, but I don't need one!"

"Excuse me sir, but you…"

"I am Cassidy Ryan's older brother. You tell him that!" The receptionist looked scared and confused at what he just said, she didn't know what to do and it was obvious that his anger wasn't going to go away. He huffed in frustration and leaned over to her. "What is taking you so long? Pick up the phone and call him!" Two hands held him from the shoulders and backed him away.

"Sir, we need you to calm down."

"I need to speak with him. Don't touch me!"

"If you don't calm down, I assure you we'll use any means necessary to throw you out."

"Now, boys, don't be like that. Let him go." She smiled towards the guards.

"Our orders are to escort him outside." one of the guards said; damn the S.H.I.E.L.D effective surveillance.

"I am ordering you to let him go." She never took advantage of being his assistant, but this time it was a good idea to make an exception. "Now!" They did as ordered and she extended a hand towards him. "My name is Elizabeth Morgan; I am Cassidy's roommate and coworker."

"Caine Ryan" she shook her hand. "I need to…"

"Priscilla, would you please bring a glass of water for Mr. Ryan?" she motioned him towards two black leather sofas.

"I don't have time for this, Miss Morgan." He follows her but doesn't sit.

"Please, sit down." She smiled at him. "Should I assume that Cass spent the night with you?"

"Yes, she did." He sat reluctantly and took a sip of the glass he was handed. "Look, thank you for helping me, but I need to speak with this Phillip Coulson."

"I am sure that the matter is pressing, Mr. Ryan." Elizabeth wondered what had happened between Agent Coulson and her friend that her brother felt the need to show up there so early in the morning. "But storming in and demanding to see him was not the right move."

"If you are not going to help me then I see no point in talking to you." He snapped and tried to stand up.

"Keep in mind that the only reason why they didn't throw you out is because I said so." Her calmed smile made him lose a little bit of his confidence. "Don't make me change my mind; nobody here will give into threats and you may be her brother, but if you think that using her name like that would get you anywhere you are wrong. Not above mine."

"I don't know who you think you are, Miss Morgan, but my sister if very important here."

"She's very important for this company and for me and you won't hear me say otherwise, however it's not really who do I think I am, but who I really am, Mr. Ryan and right now I'm the one standing between you and her impeccable reputation. Does she know you are here?" He swallowed a big gulp of water and looked nervous. "She doesn't know."

"I don't think you should be questioning me, you should go and ask that man as to why my little sister…."

"I understand you feel the need to protect her, but she's not a child anymore and whatever happened between them, it's something they have to talk about on their own."

"You don't know her as much as I do."

"Maybe I don't, but one thing I know is that she doesn't like people meddling with her work or her personal life even she opens up and talks about it, and right now you are interfering with both."

"I won't leave until I've talked with this man!" he raised his voice, but she didn't move an inch. She had to contain a short laugh; he was short tempered and stubborn, just like her friend.

"Is everything alright, Elizabeth?" she looked to the man that seemed to appear out of nowhere, his kind smile was for her, but the glare in his eyes left no mistake, he heard what Caine had said and he was not pleased.

"Yes, Doctor Banner, don't worry about it." she smiled warmly towards him and then turned to face her roommate's older brother. "Let's cut to the chase, Mr. Ryan, the man you're looking for is a very busy man and he won't see you, your sister won't be pleased that you showed up here, tried to use her name to get away with yelling to a fellow employee and jeopardized her reputation and job over something that I am sure she knows it's her problem to deal with. I understand how you feel, but I am going to ask you to leave the premises or, as you already know, I can have you escorted out. I promise you that if she finds out about this it won't be because of me." He looked ashamed, but she extended a hand and he shook it.

"I apologize…"

"I know this was all done out of the love you have for her." She took out a business card and gave it to him. "If you need something, feel free to give me a call."

"If anything like this happens again, tell Phillip Coulson he will see me one way or the other." He smiled towards her and she shrugged her shoulders smiling at his stubbornness.

"Is there going to be a next time, Mr. Ryan?" She glared at him and he denied with his head. "Have a good day."

She sighed when she saw him leave the building, a hand squeezed her shoulder and she turned around.

"Remind me to never try to antagonize you, Elizabeth." He joked.

"Don't be like that, Bruce. I was just doing my job."

They headed to the place in which they always ate breakfast together and while they talked about his research and the fact that he didn't really want to attend the release party and she tried to convince him, she was able to get her mind out of what happened with her best friend's older brother and the fact that her boss kissed her and she actually wanted him to do it again.


	17. Constant Headache

**Chapter 6**

One of the things Cassidy hated about drinking was the damn hangover you got the next day. Right now, she was feeling significantly worse than the day before. At least while you were drunk you could numb your stupid feelings, while hangover you have to deal with them and with the fucking headache.

She opened her eyes slowly, letting them adjust to the light in the room. It took her a couple of seconds to find out where she was, Oh yeah, Caine's apartment. Cassidy sat on the couch looking around for her brother but finding no one. On the coffee table she found a note:

_I have an errand to run. There is coffee and breakfast in the kitchen and some money and your things on the counter. We will talk later. Love, Caine._

She took a look at the watch on the wall after, it marked 7:30, and she was late for work.

It took her at least 20 minutes to be able to make her head stop spinning enough so she could get up, shower, eat, gather her things and leave. On the way out of the apartment though, she caught sight of her appearance: her hair was wet but it would dry out soon and because she had it styled short the tips would end in every direction, her eyes were red, she had bags under them and to top it all she was wearing the same outfit the previous day. In short, she was a total disaster.

Sadly, making her way back home to change was not an option, it was already way too late and with her luck someone might be in need of her. So, she borrowed one of Caine´s coats and a pair of black sunglasses and left.

Almost an hour later she finally made it to Stark Tower. Cassidy ignored the curious stares of the receptionist and virtually all other employees who looked at her like they could not believe the state in which she appeared to work. Not that it mattered much, she just needed to get to her office and then she could change into one of the 2 suits she kept in the closet.

Cassidy was riding the elevator, hidden in the back trying to blend with the wall, wishing for the people inside it to stop talking so her head could stop pounding and it took her a moment to actually understand what they were saying.

"Did you see it?" said a blond girl to a redheaded woman next to her.

"No, I already told you, I was not there, but Mary from finances was."

"Oh, my God! Can you imagine? I would die if my brother came here and made a scene."

That picked up the publicist interest.

"I know, thankfully Mr. Stark's new PA calmed the man enough for him to leave the place in peace." added the blond "It is a miracle she wasn't at the office."

"Really? But they say she is here before 6:30 every morning."

"I know, right?"

The door of the elevator opened at Cassidy's floor so she walked past the girls and didn't stop to listen what they said, but it sounded an awful lot like _OMG was that her? No way!_

She refused to connect the dots, it was stupid. They must have been talking about someone else. She wasn't the only one who came to work early or had an older brother. Cassidy shook her head, damn this hangover, it was making her paranoid. Luckily she still had the bottle of painkillers the doctor had given her yesterday so they would help. She opened the door of her office and almost had a heart attack when she saw a redheaded woman sitting over her desk.

"Jesus!" she said, closing the door but not walking any further inside. "What are you doing here?"

Natasha said nothing, just looked at her with a slightly raised eyebrow, were it not that the publicist had been the recipient of that look several times since she started dating Agent Coulson, she would have been scared to death. It was not a secret that Natasha Romanoff was a woman capable of making even the toughest man wet his pants with just a glance.

Cassidy went cautiously to the closet, took one of the suits and went into the bathroom to change. When she got out, the redhead was in the same place, looking enigmatically at her. It was a good thing that the girl still had the dark glasses on so the Russian couldn´t see her expression of wonder.

She walked toward her desk to take the bottle of painkillers when she glanced at the new, sleek Stark Phone, resting next to Natasha. She didn't have to ask, it was obviously the one she should had collected yesterday. Cassidy was about to take it when the woman slammed her hand over it to prevent it.

"What did you do?" the spy asked with an easy voice.

Cassidy looked at here trying to understand the meaning behind that question "What did I do about what?"

"What did I tell you?"

The girl felt a chill running down her spine at the combination of her words and hard stare, sadly for the publicist, the migraine she had at that moment was clouding her instincts of self-preservation. "I appreciate the sentiment, Agent Romanoff, but I don't see the point of your question." The next thing she knew there was a pen stuck on the desk, between her fingers. Cassidy looked straight at Natasha´s eyes, and started trembling at the force of those green eyes.

"What's wrong with you?" the publicist asked retrieving her hand as fast as she could.

"Stay away from them."

"Them?"

"Don't play dumb and do as I say." the woman answered before standing up and make her way out of the room, leaving a startled Cassidy with an idiotic look on her face.

"Oh shit!" she dropped heavily into her chair and breathed out slowly.

But of course Natasha Romanoff would know what happened. It was a miracle the spy didn't hit her. Smart move, Ryan. Mess with the two men a deadly Russian spy would kill to protect.

After taking a couple of pills, she scanned her cellphone just to find at least 45 text messages, 15 lost phone calls and 39 mail notifications. Well, shit. She may have wanted to shut out the world but the world seemed not to care.

It took her all morning to answer every mail, text and call. Thankfully none of them was from Phil. A part of her was grateful, she wasn't sure if she could deal with him right now but another was disappointed. Not that she had expected him to call; she was the one who said she was tired of everything so it was obvious he should be thinking it was up to her to fix the mess. Sadly, she knew she was a stubborn person and her inner bitch refused to do it.

Ignoring Phil was easy, and she was sure it was highly unlikely she and Barton would cross paths unless it was work related, so avoiding S.H.I.E.L.D like the plague was easy. The hard thing was going to be avoiding her responsibilities, she could only delegate so much to Elizabeth as far as playing messenger was but there were a lot of other things that she had to do by herself. Apparently, this was going to be the time to honor Pepper´s trust in her professional abilities.

**ooOoo**

At the end of that day she managed to avoid S.H.I.E.L.D, her boss and pretty much everyone. After going home she didn´t stay. Cassidy gathered some clothes and other personal artifacts, left a note on the fridge for Jess and Elizabeth saying she was going to stay at a hotel due to some work related things.

Maybe it was overkill, wanting to avoid everyone for the next few days but at she was human after all and even if she pretended to be all mature.

She was planning on going to a hotel yet she stopped at her brother's apartment first. Even if she was sure he had being the guy making the scene she had to hear it from him.

Caine had the decency to look contrite as he let her into his home

"What's the luggage for?" he asked her "Going on a business trip?"

"Don't play dumb, Caine. You know why I'm here for. Do you have any idea of the kind of problems you could have caused?"

The man sighed and sat on the sofa. "What do you want me to say? Because I am not sorry. Jesus! Pandora, you come here drunk out your ass after six months of not giving sings of life and start rambling about God knows what shit went down at work and with your boyfriend. What did you expect me to do?"

"I just needed someone to talk to not someone to avenge me." She blushed but didn't back down.

"Yeah well, sorry for caring about my little sister."

"Don't say that." she admonished him "I am grateful you love me enough for it but you have no idea what you could have gotten yourself into."

He snorted "The worst that would have happened was me getting into a fight with this Phil guy"

Cassidy sighed. She was so pissed at her brother yet she was glad Elizabeth had been able to stop whatever stupidity was going on inside his head. Not that she thought Phil would actually rise to the challenge, but still, you never know.

"Caine," she started making her way to the sofa and sitting next to him, "I do appreciate what you tried to do, after all I have done I seriously don't deserve it, but you can't fight my battles for me. This is something I have to take care on my own."

"I could tell mom and dad." He commented making the color drain from the girl's face "I'm just kidding, Pandora. I do not like what you've got yourself into but I respect your decision. Besides, I'm sure dad would have a heart attack if he finds out what kind of company you have been keeping."

Cassidy dropped her head on the back of the sofa. "I know, but what I do with my private life is my business."

He didn't look very convinced yet he nodded. "Just answer me this: was it worth it?" the girl casted him a nasty glare "I'm not asking for details, actually do not give me any details. All I want to know is if all that is happening was worth the trouble?"

"Yes" she said.

"Ok. I'm done with the interrogation" he eyed her suitcase again "You didn't answer my question, are you going somewhere?"

"No. Yes. I am going to stay at a hotel for a few days. I don't want to deal with my roommates right now."

"Bullshit. You can stay here." she didn't look so sure that his suggestion was a good idea "Come on, I just found you again, and I'm not letting you go without a fight."

Cassidy leaned on his side "Thanks."

**ooOoo**

Those two days served her to think.

The first day, Wednesday, she was able to avoid all the people she wanted to avoid. There was no call for her to go down to S.H.I.E.L.D and no awkward meetings on Stark's halls. All in all, it was an uneventful day. And staying with Caine wasn't as horrible as she had thought.

The second day, Thursday, Agent Hill called her down to discuss some points about the papers she had handed her over the weekend. Cassidy wasn´t aware of all the details but it was related to the Hellicarier and some modifications Tony Stark wanted to do to it. Cassidy stood in front of Maria Hill and Phil while they discussed the details they wanted her to pass over to Pepper.

That was the first time Phil and Cassidy saw each other since their fight. The only words they exchanged were work-related and not once did they look at each other in the eye. Things were polite yet cold. It was a good thing Hill didn´t care much about what happened around her as long as the work got done. That was the reason why the woman handed to them a file full of reports about the last apparition of the New York major and his lovely speech about the Avengers and especially about Stark.

"Fix it" she had said to them before leaving the office.

Paperwork, also known as HELL, was the thing that finally made them stay in the same room for more than 10 minutes.

One of the things of being Stark´s liaison with S.H.I.E.L.D was that if you were the head of the RP and Communication department you had to deal with the bureaucratic shit the aftermath one of the Avengers fights caused.

Agent Coulson could handle most things: preparing the budget of how much rebuilding a part of the city would cost, making up cover stories so some things couldn´t be pin on the Avengers, and for most of them he dealt with Miss Potts herself. But the how to fix the already damaged reputation of Tony Stark was first up to her and then up to her roommate.

She had to come up with the idea of how to do it, mostly by herself due to the fact the information she needed to come up with said idea consisted of Intel data and other details the less people knew about the better.

Cassidy was re-reading the statement the man gave to the press about how _irresponsible [what´s new about that?]_, reckless _[tell us something we don´t know already]_ and dangerous had been for Iron Man to destroy a playground.

If you put it that way, yes, it sounded horrible but to his credit he had waited for the place to be empty and that had been the best shot the Avengers had go to stop the carnivorous leech and prevented further damage.

"This drives me crazy." said Cassidy as she put down the file.

Phil didn´t looked away from the file he was reading but she knew him enough to know he was listening.

"Do they really have to use Mr. Stark as the idiot of the village? Not like he doesn´t behave like one most of the time," that made the corners of Phill´s mouth turn up slightly, "but still, it's unfair. I hate people who believe that having position or 'experience' believe everything they say or think is holy word."

"No one said politics were easy or that the people involved in it played play fair." He reminded her.

She took a sip of her, by now cold, coffee before she spoke again "Then somebody should tell them that if they do not like the idea the next time a mutant monster attack the city they can go an protect the people all by themselves." She sighed.

"That would be highly unprofessional." the man added looking at her with a serious expression.

It wasn´t what he said but the way he said it that made Cassidy look back at him with a sarcastic expression on her face. "Oh right, I forgot everything has to be professional around you."

"Of course it has to be." Coulson didn´t flinch at her words, he didn't even raise an eyebrow at her antics.

"And you think I would actually do something like that?" she smiled, amazed. "How little you think of my professionalism."

"You are giving me reasons for it." By the look in his eyes, she could tell he regretted his words, not that she was going to forgive him for them.

She stood up gathering the folder in her arms. "I would greatly appreciate if you refrain from referring to the way I do my job; I do not recall telling you how to do yours, so please do not patronize me about how to do mine."

"I didn't mean it like that," he told her as she made her way to the door, "but you don't make it easy for me not to think about it."

"Why? Because I speak my mind? Sorry if the fact that I like to say what is on my mind upsets you so much; yet, even I know when to shut up."

"That's not the point."

"Then what is your point? Because you lost me."

"Never mind." he said in a low voice and sighed.

Cassidy laughed. "Want to know what I think is the problem, agent?" Phil raised an eyebrow. "I am nothing but a 10 year old who wanted to play house with an old man." She said and left.

**OoOoo**

Of course, if you had a fight with your, not so sure if still is, boyfriend, the best thing to do is to antagonize him. Cassidy vow not to think about it for the time being, after all she had things to do: planning a release party that was supposed to take place at the Gotham Hall. It was her baby, the new Stark Phone campaign, her team had been working on that for the last three months and this was supposed to be the best party ever, not for the Phone itself but to celebrate the hard work behind it. It was going to be a great party, she would make sure of that, and it would help her to use her time on something productive.


	18. Stars and Stripes

The first time they had breakfast was actually at her request, she felt like she should at least familiarize with the man that seemed to be her new boss' best friend at the company; even though when she approached him she felt silly and she was afraid he might take it the wrong way, he just laughed and agreed.

Also, even though science was not her field, how could she pass up the chance to speak with one of the brightest men she would ever meet?

To her surprise he took her to a small café located between the 38th and 37th street called Lucid Café, he was a regular customer and ever since then when they had the time they just went there and sat at their usual table near the window.

She usually didn't take that much time, but today two hours had gone by and she still wanted to stay there a while longer, with some luck her boss would have left the office already and she would be able to work in peace.

"Excuse me for a moment." She said as she picked up the phone. "Elizabeth Morgan." She checked some information in her Starkpad and started talking to the person on the other line while he watched her work. She was so into the conversation that she didn't notice when he waved his hand towards the window, shook hands and asked the person to join them.

After hanging up the phone she turned to apologize for the twenty minute conversation and found herself sitting next to a handsome, broad-shouldered man that smiled towards her and at that moment she understood why so many women fell for him. He was indeed handsome and he seemed like such a nice man that she couldn't help but smile back.

"Steve, this is Elizabeth Morgan, Tony's assistant."

"It's nice to meet you, Miss Morgan."

"Nice to meet you too, Captain Rogers." She hadn't had the chance to meet him, even if he actually spent most of his time at Stark Tower.

"It's nice to see you outside, Steve."

"I promised Agent Coulson I would go out of the tower once in a while." The waitress placed a cup of coffee in front of his hand and giggled when he smiled at her.

"Are you adapting well, Captain?" she took a sip of her almost cold tea. "I'm sorry that sounded so wrong." Both men looked at her and laughed at her blushing face.

"As well as I can," he said kindly.

"I'll get a day off the laboratory and show you around, I'm sorry we haven't paid attention to that."

"Its fine, Bruce, we are all really busy. Well, most of us." He joked and they all knew what he meant. "I hope Stark doesn't make you work too hard, Miss Morgan."

"Well, someone has to." She smiled and covered her mouth before the three of them laughed out loud. "Sorry!" without noticing she'd softly kicked a small bag.

"It's fine. I actually just picked it up before Bruce waved at me." He said and placed the bag on the table. "One of the things I really don't know how to get used to." He took out a box and opened it.

He placed the toy in front of them and Bruce's amused scoff made him smile; Elizabeth just looked at the toy and tried to keep a straight face. In front of them stood a bobble-head figure of Captain America and he simply looked at it like it was the weirdest thing he'd ever seen.

"Who gave you this?" the other man took the toy in his hand and moved it around analyzing it.

"Agent Barton." He said and showed them the note that came along with it. "He thought I would find it funny."

"I think it's really cute." She played with the small shield hitting it a few times and giggled when the head moved. "I would actually buy the whole set." He smiled at her and she blushed, how come his smile was so amazingly charming? "Excuse me, again."

She picked up the phone and after five minutes of conversation she realized that whatever the real issue was she needed to go back to the office to fix it.

"Is everything ok, Elizabeth?" Doctor Banner's concerned tone of voice made her smile.

"I need to go back to the office." She checked her watch. "I've been away for more than I was supposed to and there seems to be a crisis."

"I'm sorry for keeping you, Miss Morgan."

"Don't be; it's my fault for staying longer than I should have." She took her purse and stood up. "I'm sorry for leaving like this."

"Its fine, this time is on me." He took out his wallet and placed a few bills on the table. "Are you going to call a town car?"

"I'm sure the traffic would be awful for me to wait for a town car. I'll just walk."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, yes. It's about an eight minute walk, well, ten to fifteen for me." She joked. "See you tomorrow, Bruce. It was nice meeting you, Captain Rogers."

"Let me take you."

"There's really no need, I'll be fine." She smiled and Doctor Banner's eyes looked amused by her sudden shock.

"It wouldn't be appropriate if I let a lady walk. I know it's close, but you'll be there much faster if I take you." He pointed to the window. "My motorcycle is parked outside."

"Thanks, but I…"

"I insist." He said with another of his ridiculously charming smiles and motioned her to walk outside and towards his motorcycle.

"Thank you, Steve." She said before she sat behind him and placed her arms around his waist. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have…"

"It's perfectly fine." He smiled again. "May I call you Elizabeth?"

"Of course." She suppressed a giggle. She was acting like a 16 year-old, but he was such a gentleman she couldn't help it. She tried not to lean over his back, which turned out to be impossible as he insisted on leaning back to her to check if she was doing ok and what was it with these men and the colognes they wore?

A few minutes later she went through the doors of Stark Tower walking next to Steve Rogers and in a matter of seconds the rumor that they spend some time together spread all over the company.


	19. Out And About

His feet hung loosely from the ledge of the building as he stared at a window. He had been waiting a while now and he already knew the schedule; he started taking tab in his mind:

_5:30 Gets home  
5:35 Makes a pot of coffee  
5:45 Gets a cup of coffee  
6:00 TV Browsing  
6:15 Smoke on the balcony  
7:00 Jog around the block_

"And eight, shower." he thought to himself as he saw his watch mark 8pm. From the distance he was in he couldn't see the bathroom but he closed his eyes and pictured the warm water falling on her skin, how it traveled from her hair down to her slender back.

"You know that what you are doing right now is not healthy at all, Clint." A voice interrupted.

"Nat, why are you here?" he asked without looking at her. Clicking of boots started to close up on him and he felt her sitting down next to him.

"I was going to ask you the same thing. You've been coming here for the past week."

He didn't look up at her but kept his sight focused on Jessica's bedroom.

"You know," she continued, "it was funny at first, knowing what you were doing. But now, I'm worried about you and about what you are doing." But he didn't move; his gaze still focused ahead.

They sat together for a while in complete silence, Natasha looking at the same window he had been staring at for a while now.

"So," she sighed, "what's so interesting about her?"

It took a while but the archer finally spoke. "She reminds me of me," he smiled "before I started at S.H.I.E.L.D, you know?" Natasha's face was a perfect mask, a blank canvas in which you could put the expression you wanted to see, however after years of knowing each other this couldn't really fool the archer and he added "I don't ever want to go back to a time where I didn't know you." He looked at her and tried to look for words to describe what the hell was he doing. "She's young, explosive and thick headed as me."

"How is that possible?" Natasha pretended to be surprised.

"Cute Tasha, very cute." He said as a small grin formed on his face, relief that she was back to talking to him.

His smile faded as soon as he saw a lamp being flickered on. Jessica moved towards her closet and he saw her looking around for something to wear.

"This is strange" he spoke softly and gazed down at his watch, the green light blinking 8:25pm.

Usually at this time she would sit on her bed, pop up some music (_Coldplay. I don't see the appeal)_ and started to read until she fell asleep about 45 minutes later. She was looking for something to wear.

"That's cute" Natasha interrupted.

He looked back at her. "What?"

She pointed at Jess "The dress she picked out. It's too cold outside but I can see the appeal." He cocked an eyebrow at her and she rolled her eyes at him. "The dress she's putting on right now "she continued and he turned back to the window "that's a fancy dress and considering she is wearing flats and why would you dress like that if you are going to stay home."

"What are you…?" he asked with a confused expression on his face.

"She's going on a date" she explained with an annoyed tone of voice.

The redhead noticed Clint's face go dark and tense.

He was still looking right in front of him; Jessica was chatting excitedly on the phone. And Natasha was pretty sure she heard his teeth crackling, putting a great force on his jaw trying not to curse out loud.

While Jessica went from here to there around her room she remembered how surprised she was when she got a text message from Derek.

_What are you doing next Friday? – D_

_Cuddling under a blanket reading Gatsby – J_

_Well, now you're not. I'll pick you up at 9 – D_

_Don't I get a say on my social life, Mr. Adams? – J_

_I don't think staying at home on a Friday counts as "social," Ms. Chase – D_

_Besides, you've been kinda down lately and everyone is worried about you. – D_

_And by everyone you mean yourself? – J _(It was taking a while for him to answer; poor guy's confidence had been shut down.)

_I'll text you my address –J _

And funny enough Friday was here already. She had Elizabeth pick out an outfit for her "_because you are. How do I put this? Fashionably disabled."_ She was sitting down in her living room at 8:45pm, _The Great Gatsby _on her lap and waiting for the door to ring. Jessica was not used to dating; she had a serious boyfriend just out of college and had broken up over a year and a half ago and shut herself out for a while.

She went back to the chapter she intended to read tonight and waited.

The intercom rang and Jess inattentively pushed it open and sat back down to read.

Couple of seconds later someone knocked on the door "it's open," she yelled, her eyes running down a paragraph. The door opened and a sudden breeze came in, along with hints of white pepper, tequila and oak. (_That is the best cologne I ever…)_ She looked back at the door and saw Derek smiling at her, looking very dashing. He was sporting dark jeans, a blue cardigan and a white t-shirt under it.

"So, shall we?"

She cocked her head to the side. "You look nice."

"Thanks. You do too." He walked inside and blushed profusely as he pointed at her.

"I… I think I might be a little bit overdressed." She looked down at her purple dress and back at him. "Maybe I should go…" she quickly stood up, her book falling to the floor.

"That's fine, Jessica, you don't need to."

She smiled thinly and walked over to him, where he gave her his arm in a very sweet gesture. She took her purse and usual jacket and walked out of the apartment, God knows where he was taking her next.

Jessica had never set foot on a Jazz Club and the whole night on itself was a great experience. She found out how an amazingly skilled musician Derek was and had danced all night with several people, not minding at all who they were. She was now exiting the venue laughing along with Derek, who had been the perfect gentleman all night.

"Give me a second and I'll bring the car around." He beckoned her to stay at the entrance.

"That's ok. It's a nice night. Let's take a walk" she said as she took off the jacket. He extended his arm to her and she wrapped her own into his, walking towards the car parked half a block from the venue. It was a good thing she decided to give him a chance, after all that had happened with _him_; she had a hard time wanting to do anything at all.

She wasn't sure why Clint started to act like such a child. He had her in the palm of his hand and he just decided to run away. Why did he run away at all? What was his problem? (_Wait, no. Focus on the sweet guy next to you and enjoy the evening.) _

"So" he interrupted "I hope you had fun tonight." She smiled as she looked up at him, still trying to figure out the color of his eyes, right now she saw an amber tint to them.

"I was pleasantly surprised. I've never been to one of these. And you," she poked Derek on his side, "you are _way _too talented to be working a nine to five job."

He laughed softly. "Thanks. I'd love to do this for a living, you know, music. But I have to…"

Jessie felt weird all of the sudden, in fact, she has felt weird all week but now she had the odd feeling someone was following her and decided to stupidly follow her instincts.

"Derek. Sorry. Um, I forgot I had to bring something back for Cassidy in that mini mart we just passed. Do you?"

He smiled back at her. "No problem. I'll wait for you here." He lowered his hand, took hers and squeezed it hard.

Jessica walked up around the corner, holding her purse tightly against her side, and her suspicions were not wrong. She saw that person trying to hide away in a crowd of incoming people.

"Don't," she yelled "come here, Clinton Francis Barton." She ran into the crowd, elbowing people along the way trying to get to him. But now he was nowhere to be seen.

"Wow, last time someone called me by my full name I was eleven or something." she heard behind her.

"Don't try to be charming with me!" she turned on her heel and walked up to him. "Why the hell have you been spying on me? Don't you know how creepy that is?" Her face was blazing red and she was trying to hold herself from hitting him in the jaw again.

"Let me remind you that if you were able to know I was here it's because I wanted you to, Agent Chase." He looked at her for a moment, frowned and started to walk away.

"No, Clint! You don't get to do that anymore! You are so fucking frustrating, you know that?" her voice raised, angry tears wanting to escape her eyes. "Derek is a nice straight up guy who actually speaks his mind instead of running away like a little bitch." His jaw was clenched, anger blazed in his eyes and he kept his eyes focused on her and she could tell he was about to leave, again. "I'm giving you one last shot right now, Clint."

"Maybe you haven't taken the time to know about me as much as you think; Chase, but I don't take insults like that from anyone and neither do I do ultimatums."

"What the hell do I need to understand? I didn't have an easy life either, Clint. I…" she laughed sourly. "You know what? Have a nice life, Agent Barton." She finished as she started to walk away towards the corner.

"You say I am a child, but don't think for a second that means you are not." She looked around to reply just to realize he wasn't there anymore.


	20. One Dance

_**HAPPY 2013 KIDS! Sorry for the huge delay (I've kicked myself a lot for it, believe me) but I got a treat for you… Hope you enjoy and R/Rs are always welcome! :)**_

Jessica wasn't keen on parties, she never liked dressing up all fancy (kinda odd since she had four older sisters) but today Ellie basically dragged her friend to her closet and picked up an outfit for her.

The Stark Phone release party was basically all everyone was talking about, well, all Stark related parties were usually well spoken for. She hadn't had the privilege of going to one but it's a good thing her roommate is now Tony Stark's PA and could manage to get her into the bash (that also included a plus one so Jess could drag Derek along.)

"Cassidy Pandora Ryan, I hope you're ready because we leave in 20 minutes" Elizabeth screamed from her own room.

"I don't even want to go. Stop pushing me, woman!" Cass yelled from the bathroom.

Jessica witnessed the funny interaction from the living room, all prepped up and resisting a huge urge to smoke (_damn you and your demands, Elizabeth Anne Morgan.)_ Ellie had been working her butt off the past days, trying to avoid Tony most of the time and Cassidy barely spoke since the whole Coulson issue and this party was the perfect excuse for them to forget about them.

Jess on the other hand had been pretty content and she walked on eggshells when she was with Derek, she was afraid there was something wrong with her and it might drive him off but he was the most supportive, handsome and overall good guy. But then there was Clint. Of course he would never leave her thoughts but after their argument they simply stopped talking.

"God, what's taking so long with Cassidy?" Elizabeth huffed out loud as she walked into the living room. "She cannot afford being late."

Jessica looks up at her "You know she doesn't want to go"

"It's not a matter of wanting to go, her team put this party together and they all have to go. It's a work thing."

"Just" Jess stood up and whispered "give her a break. She has had a difficult week."

"That is not an excuse. I had a difficult week too, Jess. And I'm still going, aren't I?" Elizabeth said, visibly frustrated and headed back to her room "Cassidy, come on, let's go!" she screamed back to their friend, who was still in the bathroom.

Jessica sighed and moved towards the balcony, automatically flicking her lighter in her right hand anxiously. _I just hope they don't end up killing each other (or Tony or Phil, for that matter) at the end of the night._

Jess walked close to Derek, holding his arm as they entered the venue "Can you believe this place? It's so beautiful here."

"It's amazing" he said, looking up at the ceiling and admiring the structure.

"How about we dance?" Jessica leans in his ear and asks.

He grunted and shook his head from side to side but Jessie kept tried to pull him towards the middle of the room. Since he didn't flinch, she pouted at him. "Come on, we're not going to sit at the table all night."

"Alright. But we're going to explore the premises next, ok?" He rolled his eyes and placed their coats on the nearest empty table and reluctantly moved with her towards the dance floor.

She looked around the room to see if either Cassidy or Elizabeth were anywhere around (_hopefully having fun.)_ Derek twirled her around and she laughed.

"Well, didn't know I should add good dancing skills to your list of talents." He gave her a big smile and pulled her closer to him.

"I'm not that great, but I'll take it as a compliment."

Back in the bar she was able to spot Cassidy sitting gloomily on a stool and sipping on her glass of wine, talking with… He saw her look at him and locked eyes for a minute, giving her a playful smile as he raised his amber filled glass at her. _Well, I should have known he was going to be here._ She turned around on her spot and tried to ignore Clint's gaze on her back.

"Let me get us something to drink." Derek whispered to her once the song was done. He hesitated for a second, tilting her head up and giving her a soft kiss on her lips. "I'll be right back" he said as he headed towards the bar.

She smiled to herself because of his gesture and started to walk towards the table. A cold hand took hers and pulled towards the dance floor.

She tried to release her hand from his, he was gripping it softly but yet firmly enough. "Let me go." she gritted her teeth.

"No."

Jessica looked towards the bar and saw Derek chatting with a random person. She walked towards Barton. "One song." he smirked triumphantly and hugged her waist with his arm, pressing her close to him.

She looked to the side as they swayed on the spot; she wasn't able to say anything that was not offensive to him. He had been out of the radar for the last two weeks after the last time they met and the distance did help her start to forget the small glint of exposure in Clint that had won her over, as hard as it was.

"You look amazing tonight." he whispered in her ear.

"Thanks" she said, trying to sound as calmed as she possibly could. They both stayed quiet for a while, she tried to fight it but she was enjoying this moment, the music and him, dressed all gallantly, holding her close in his arms.

"You wore that dress just for me," he whispered, "you know, purple is my favorite color." He slowly ran his arm up and down her back, making her shiver.

"No, Clint. You can't do that."

"What am I doing?" he said, trying to sound innocent. She looked straight into his blue eyes.

"You don't get to do this anymore, Barton. Don't try and make me forget why I gave up on you in the first place." She tried to back away from him but he didn't let her move. "Let me go."

"I'm afraid not, the song hasn't ended. "

"What makes you think I will change my mind?" She scoffed.

"We're alike. We're the same and it doesn't matter how many nights you spend with him, you know it won't ever be the same as the one you spent with me." Jessica tried with all her power not to hit him (_wouldn't want to make a scene at a Stark party)_ and backed away as quickly as she could, picking up her purse before heading outside of the ballroom.

She'd rather run away from him than face the truth. He was right; she hadn't spent any nights with Derek aside from your average dates but she could not forget that one time she had spent with Clint and she feared that Derek wouldn't be up to par with the archer, but that's what she didn't want, comparing Derek with Clint in any way. Derek was a healthy choice for her, a sane choice.

_Choice? What choice? Why do I feel the need to pick between either of them?_

"Fuck, fuck you Clint!" she mumbled to herself as she walked outside of the venue, fumbling through her purse and taking one cigarette. "Who the hell does he think he is waltzing in my life and just do whatever the fuck he wants?!" She kept saying to herself, a couple of people from the valet service looking back at her.

"Jess, is everything ok?" she could hear a voice coming up behind her. She automatically threw the cigarette on the floor and put it out.

Jessica turned around and sighed, noticing Derek making his way towards her "I'm fine, I just… I needed some fresh air." she fakes a smile and puts her arms around her.

"If you don't mind me asking, is this related to Agent Barton?" he whispers to her, Derek frowns slightly and takes her elbow, moving her a few steps back away from the door.

Her mouth gaped and tried to look for a good lie to come up with, but Derek's penetrating gaze wasn't helping her. "It's kinda… complicated, for a lack of a better word. And I rather not get into that, if you don't mind."

Derek sighs and looks back at his watch "I have an idea. Might staying here for just a second?" Jessica nods and presses her back to the wall as Derek runs back into the ballroom and comes back a couple of minutes later, their coats in his hand. "We're leaving. "

He placed her coat on her shoulders as he walked out the venue and waited for her on the steps. Jess looked back at the room, some part of her hoping Clint would come back to her but she knew there was a chance in hell of that happening.

"Jessica?" Derek asked; his hand stretched out to her.

She turned around and walked towards him. Jess takes his hand and kisses him "let's go."


	21. What if?

While Cassidy went to be sure that everything was going as smoothly as it should with the entertainment, the food, the bar and all those little details that actually made the event a success, Elizabeth went to greet the early arriving guests, talk with the board members, to make sure that the media had all the information and that the S.H.I.E.L.D agents placed among them appeared like they were enjoying the party instead of just looking around and be stoic.

She was talking to a group of journalists that used to be her classmates, laughing and still working around Mr. Stark's schedule while they requested interviews; there was always someone that wanted to interview him and this new piece of Stark technology was bound to bring even more of them, her boss wasn't going to be pleased about it but she'd booked the next week for most of the interviews and promised to look for a couple of more slots.

She waved them goodbye and walked as fast as she could and got to The Green Room; this part was reserved for her boss or the board in case any of them wanted to step out of the party for a moment, but since it was still a little early the place was empty and she sat down to solve one of those ever annoying last minute issues regarding the information she sent the day before to the Japanese team they were working with about the clean energy cooperation between them.

She knew she could skip the first part of the event, the campaign presentation, the showing of the new phone and it's features, the board representative speech, but she couldn't skip the next part, her boss already said he wasn't going to be there and Miss Potts specified that she was going to be late, so she had no other choice but to give the speech herself.

She started to work her way up to the stage when the board representative joked about what a privilege it was for everyone because tonight the genius and charming Anthony Stark decided to join them and give the speech himself, she froze a few steps from the podium and swallowed hard. After two weeks of working relentlessly to forget about that had happened and to compensate for the three hour breakfast, after spending time at Stark but outside his office so she didn't have to see him unless it was mandatory, which never happened because he decided not to show up… there he was.

The photographers went crazy, like they usually did when he was on sight, for a few more seconds she stood there until one of the photographers tried to approach the podium more than he should, she immediately walked over to him and warned him about the place where the media had to be and signaled a couple of security guards to keep them there.

He was all smiles and poses and a few comments about how beautiful the female journalists looked today and she stood there until all the rest of the formalities were over, and then he walked over to her.

"I guess I have to answer some questions now."

"Yes, over here." she directed him towards a place in which he could answer the questions with ease and the media followed them. The master of ceremonies asked the guests to enjoy the rest of the evening and reminded them about the ball room and the amazing music provided by a new and upcoming band.

Most of the guests took his word and left the mezzanine almost empty, however her boss was still answering questions and she had to stay there; after about thirty minutes of questions she stopped them and encouraged the journalists to join the rest of the guests at the ball room; she knew they weren't going to do it or that most of them wouldn't do it, as journalists they had a deadline and they couldn't afford to miss it.

Instead of saying anything to her he simply walked towards the ballroom and she followed him to the bar.

"Good night, Miss Morgan."

"Hello, Bob. It's nice to see you again."

"Hi, Bob! Give me a scotch." His voice interrupted and Bob, the bartender, poured him a glass.

"Do you need me for something, Mr. Stark?" he simply looked at her and smiled sardonically.

"Go and do whatever it is you do when I'm not around."

"Elizabeth" a voiced called her from behind; she turned around and smiled warmly, she could hear her boss shift around on the stool. "Stark."

"Captain. I didn't think I would see you here." He smiled sarcastically.

"I didn't have much of a choice, Doctor Banner asked me to be here instead of him." He said half joking and half amused at her sad pout.

"I should've known he wasn't really going to come, I would've loved seeing him tonight."

"He knows that and he specifically said that it was my duty to make sure you enjoyed the night since you've been working a lot."

"Yes, well, that's what she gets paid to do." Her boss' voice interrupted and Steve's blue eyes looked at him in anger, but decided to ignore him and instead he extended his hand towards her when he heard the name of the song that they were going to play.

"Would you like to dance?" she nodded, before taking off the bolero she'd being wearing the whole night and placed it over the counter along with her purse.

"Would you mind watching this for me, Bob?"

"Not at all, Miss Morgan, I'll have someone take it to the cloakroom."

Steve turned around to greet a couple of S.H.I.E.L.D agents; suddenly she felt the soft brush of fingertips over her left shoulder blade and a voice whispered in her ear.

"It doesn't matter how much make up you use to cover it, I know it's there." She turned around and watched the sarcastic smile that her boss was giving her, and then he winked before sitting back down and pointed towards Steve and the fact that he was finishing the conversation.

"I didn't know that women still wore this kind of dress." He looked at her and she blushed. "You look beautiful." He said and placed his hand at her waist, leading her to the dance floor.

She heard the ice tingling behind her, the same sound when her boss wanted more scotch and then the pouring of the liquid and the scoff of annoyance she'd heard before and decided to ignore the feeling that his eyes were following them as they walked, Steve Rogers held her in his arms and started dancing.

She didn't really like to dance and she'd heard he didn't like it either, but there was no question over the fact that he knew how to lead and she just had to follow. A man used to lead a group of soldiers was bound to take the lead, even if he didn't do it consciously.

The smell of is cologne surrounded her and she had to resist her need to rest her head in his chest and just smile while the beauty of Glenn Miller's Moonlight Serenade filled her thoughts. Not having to be on guard and just enjoying herself was an amazing feeling and she needed it desperately, all the years she'd been fighting against her past, against her memories and the constant struggle of the present was taking a toll on her and even she wanted if to deny it she had to admit that she'd felt like this with three people in her life, one of them was the man in who's arms she was at the moment, the other was there looking at them while they danced and the third one… well, the third one was no longer there.

The firm grip on her waist subsided a little and that's when she noticed he was caressing her back, well, he wasn't as shy as she thought he would be and smiled pleased to be in his arms, though by now it would be obvious that this seemed like a confirmation of the rumor that she was planning to "snatch him because what else would someone like her do" and she flushed furious about this and angry at herself for thinking about it when she was supposed to be enjoying the moment…

(_Oh, hold on a second, where have I heard this before?)_

The song ended and they both turned to clap with the rest of the guests and then walked out of the dance floor and sat down.

"Steve!" a deep voice called him and he smiled towards the man that approached them "I was going to ask how you were, but since you are in the company of a beautiful lady I judge my question to be unnecessary."

"It's nice seeing you here." He turned to Elizabeth. "This is…"

"Thor, Asgardian God of Thunder." She said breathlessly and they both laughed.

"While on earth I go by the name of Donald Blake." He kissed her hand and she blushed embarrassed.

"I am so sorry." she blushed. (_Seriously, Morgan! What the hell is wrong with you?! You were prepared for this and now you are basically squealing like a schoolgirl?!_)

"Don't trouble yourself about something like that." She still felt embarrassed, but smiled back at him.

"This is Elizabeth Morgan, Stark's assistant."

"It's nice to meet you." He turned to Steve. "I did not plan on being here, but in the end I decided to stop by and see what a Midgardian celebration is like. If I plan to stay here for a while I need to familiarize myself with Earth."

"It's a good thing you decided to come visit, Stark has a whole floor on the building for you and I am sure Elizabeth would love to show it to you as soon as she can."

"Oh, I would love to and if there is anything you need you just have to ask." She smiled and squeezed Steve's hand as a thank you gesture. "I would also love to hear about Asgard."

"I would say that libations are needed and when I come back I will gladly tell you about the beauty of Asgard. "

They watched him go, but it seemed their plans would have to change since Doctor Erik Selvig appeared out of nowhere and Thor was so pleased to see him that it would be awful of them to interrupt just to remind him about their conversation; if he was really going to stay for a while there was plenty of time for that. Thor turned around and Steve assured him with a gesture that it was fine.

"So what was that?" Steve joked. "You looked exactly the same way you did when you were playing with the toy." She pretended to be mad at him and nudged him with her shoulder.

"When you read about Norse mythology you never dream you are going to meet the 'characters' in the stories, I mean, he's Thor!" Steve chuckled and she had to laugh softly. "I shouldn't have done that, it just slipped."

Suddenly something caught his eye; he turned around and spotted Clint Barton having an argument with a woman he was sure he'd seen before at S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Who's that woman talking with Agent Barton?"

"She's my roommate, her name is Jessica." She directed her eyes to the couple and felt her cheeks flush again, but this time it was out of anger. Whatever Clint said to Jessie it seemed awful because she was about to bolt.

"I'm going to go and stop them, he shouldn't be upsetting her." Steve stood up, but Elizabeth didn't let him walk and placing a hand on his chest she looked up at him.

"Let me handle this, please."

"If you need any help, just let me know." Elizabeth smiled and walked over to meet Clint Barton before he followed her friend, this was getting out of hand and she was tired of it.

"Agent Barton" she said walking up to him and blocking his path.

"You again?!" he said annoyed.

"Yes, me; but this time we are going to talk and don't believe for a second I will take no for an answer." She smiled pleasantly and hooked her arm with his, slowly but firmly directing him out of the ball room and to a place in which they could talk or at least he would listen to what she had to say.

He was annoyed, the stiffness of his body made it clear and she was sure she had a few minutes before he either yelled at her or simply walked away, after getting out of sight from everyone else she let his arm go and he leaned over the wall crossing his arms and glaring at her.

"You need to back off."

"Is that a threat? Because you looking absolutely beautiful in that dress do not count as one, unless you have a gun hidden somewhere, which would be really sexy, I don't see the…"

"It's not a threat; it's common sense, Barton. She's been very happy these past days; Derek is a good guy and I happen to like him…"

"Are you playing matchmaker, Morgan?"

"Of course not! She has the right to choose whomever she wants!"

"But you don't like me." He volunteered amused at her anger.

"You make it so difficult when you upset her every single time she sees you!"

"You told Cassidy's older brother not to meddle in her affairs, Morgan."

"Cassidy is a whole other person and you know it. I know where you're going and yes, Jessie might be older than me, but you are missing the point here." he tried to interrupt. "I don't mean you should go pour your heart out to her, get all corny, because I know you are not and will never be like that but you are either in or out of her life for good! And also if you even think about being with her, whatever it is you two have then you have to realize that she's always going to be like this! I'm sure you've read her file, so you know why she is the way she is and I would think that you being you then you've have already thought what being with her means."

"Such a high and mighty speech for someone that hasn't shared the truth about her past with her friends, don't you think?" he smirked and raised an eyebrow. "I've read your file too."

"So many big words from someone that keeps running into the same wall over and over again. Why don't you just face the truth, Barton? It's not a secret."

"Is this really where you want to go, Morgan?" he leaned over to her, his lips inches from hers and he emitted some sort of a growl when she didn't move back.

"No, this is not a quarrel to see who has the darkest or most painful secret, because we both do in our own way."

They looked at each other eyes for a few more seconds, both breathing hard, his hands inches from her arms and her fingers curled close to his tie and then they both walked away at the same time.

She walked back into the ballroom, grabbed a glass of water and drained it, of course she was pissed at Clint Barton for mentioning her past, but she kind of ran into it and couldn't blame him for trying to defend himself; she looked around and spotted a shot haired blonde woman walking over to the bar and directly to her boss.

Cursing inwardly she walked as fast as she could towards the counter, but it was already too late, the woman got there first and flirted a bit with her boss before getting a recorder out of her purse and laid it on the counter. She heard the question and froze a few steps from them.

"Is is true that you plan to remove Miss Virginia Potts from being CEO of Stark Enterprises?"

"Miss Potts is a great asset to the company and her work is impeccable, she's still and will be the CEO for as far as she wants to and her job is as it has been so far."

"What do you have to say about the rumor that Miss Potts is dating your employee Mister Happy Hogan? Because the last time I checked you two looked like a happy couple." He left the glass over the counter and smiled confidently at her.

"Above anything Miss Potts and I are in a professional relationship and her job doesn't depend on any personal matter. As for women, I tend not to attach myself to any of them." He looked at her and smirked. "Most of them are easy to obtain and even easier to forget, miss… what was your name again?" Elizabeth had to suppress a scoff at the face the journalist made and the angry flush that filled it and after smirking at her again he simply turned the recorder off and walked away.

"Good night, Miss Morgan." he walked by and whispered. "Take care of this."

"Right away, Mr. Stark." She waited until he left the room and then turned over to the journalist.

"So you are Tony's new assistant." She drained the glass that she had in her hand. "I guess I have to deal with you from now on."

"No, Miss Everhart, you won't deal with me."

"Aren't you supposed to do anything and everything he asks you to do?"

"That is what an assistant is hired to do, including pest control."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I guess this is not the first time you've heard something along this line, is it?" she smiles. "I'm here to tell you that you are banned from any Stark related event and from speaking with Mr. Stark from now on."

"Because I asked a question he didn't like? You are a journalist too, that is what we do."

"No, because you didn't abide to the rules for the press conference, Miss Everhart; please, don't make this into a scene, leave and tell your editor that he needs to send someone else from now on." A pleasant smile appeared on her face before she turned around. "I think there is a coworker of yours that used to be my classmate, tell your editor that I think she would be a great."

"I was there first, you know?" Elizabeth faced the blonde woman again and her face was red with anger, but with a sardonic smile on her lips.

"You forget something important about journalism, Christine; it's not about who gets there first, but about who gets deep enough into the matter to understand the heart of it." The confident and pleasant smile on her lips angered the journalist even more, but she picked up her recorder and her purse and walked out.

Elizabeth wanted to find Steve and apologize for leaving him for so long, but before she could actually look around the place and try to find him someone called her name.

"Hello, Miss Morgan!"

"Nice to see you, Miss Potts. I'm sorry that I wasn't able to find you before."

"It's not your fault, I was actually very late today; the negotiations took longer than expected." She smiled. "Where's Tony?"

"Mr. Stark already left; do you need me to call him back?"

"He won't like it, but I need him to look at these documents and sign them, they need to be sent first thing in the morning. Do you know where he is?"

"He didn't say." She took out her phone and was about to speed dial his number when Pepper's hand stopped hers.

"No, don't call him, just find wherever he is and take this to him." She gave her a folder with a few documents inside. "If there is a chance to send them tonight..."

"I will send them tonight, Miss Potts, don't worry about it."

Tony Stark had a few apartments around Manhattan and this one was the one he used to escape because only three people knew about it and she was sure he was there. She pressed the code, her finger on the biometric reader and slid her ID in order to open the door;

She left her purse over the small coffee table and walked over to the bar, the bottle of scotch was open and his jacket was over a stool, but he wasn't there. She heard footsteps coming from the balcony and when she stepped outside he was leaning over the rail and looking at the city lights.

"So Capsicle managed to let you out of his grasp." He said without turning around to look at her.

"I was not in his grasp."Elizabeth walked over and stood next to him.

"I don't know why everyone finds him so charming. He's an old guy and a virgin if I might add."

"I didn't know that not having sex in a while or at all was some sort of a crime..."

"Why don't you tell me about it, since you seem to be an expert on the subject?"

"Guilty as charged, Mr. Stark." She smiled. "You are kind of off your game tonight."

"Why are you so cheery right now? I don't recognize you if you're not barking at me." She sighed and smiled despite herself.

"These documents need to be signed and sent now." She showed him the folder and instead of waiting for her to leave them on the rail he took it from her hands. "I didn't want to bother you, but it's urgent." He signed them and gave her the folder back.

"There." He faced the city again and played with the ice in his glass.

She walked over to the door, where Franz was waiting to pick up the folder and then send it. Closing the door she walked over to the bar and poured herself a glass of water.

"I don't want your pity, Miss Uptight Assistant." He said leaning on the threshold. "You can leave."

"You knew, didn't you? That's why you left, you knew but didn't want to believe it, is that it?"

"I don't think I pay you to be my shrink, however if you want to stay and join me for drinks then just say so. I plan on getting drunk."

"Drunk? Don't be ridiculous! You are never drunk! You pretend to be so you can get away with doing or saying anything you want!" she said amused at the face he made.

"Oh, so there you are, Miss Uptight Bossy Pants." He leaned over towards her and winked.

"Is that the best you can do, Mr. Stark? Should I really worry about the fact that it seems like alcohol is impairing your sarcasm?"

"I can think of other things I can do..." His mouth crashing with hers silenced her before she could utter a word; he pushed her against the counter and kissed her furiously provoking a few moans to escape her lips. "Stop pretending you don't want this. You stayed for a reason now own to it." He said out loud before pinning her hands over the counter and kissing her again. "I bet you are not thinking about Captain Flashy Pants now…"

"You're thinking a lot about the fact that he danced with me… Does it bother you that much?" she smirked at him.

"I don't like people touching my stuff." He cupped her face with his hand and she brushed it away. "You tend to stop yourself when the going gets rough… and we're not even starting."

"Last time I checked I was not yours, Mr. Stark nor was I stuff." He leaned over and grazed his lips over her shoulder and slowly placed a kiss in her neck.

"Didn't I tell you I plan my moves ahead of time?" his hand moved around her waist and pressed her against his body. "You like this, building up the tension, don't deny that right now you feel the urge to rip each other's clothes off." he whispered in her ear and smiled when he felt her shiver.

"You are my boss."

"So I order you to do as I tell you."

"Are we getting possessive and ordering me around now?" she smirked. "Face it, you enjoy the idea of breaking me, because no one has ever said no to you and it pisses you off."

"Face it" he said whispering in her ear and moving his hand lifting her dress. "You like pushing the limits, you want to me to break you, don't pretend otherwise."

She looked into his eyes for a moment and lost all her resolution, to hell with everything, her insecurities, the doubts, the fear and most of all to hell with the constant need to be perfect to prove that she was not a failure.

She ran her eyes over his body and lingered over the unbuttoned shirt and the undone bowtie and decided that if this was going to happen then she would make the most of it.

"Doesn't it make you angry?" his eyes flared and he smirked understanding what she meant. "Doesn't it piss you off that I have the nerve to deny you?" she kissed him close to his mouth. "Don't you feel the need to rip my clothes off when I say no?"

"Say no to me." His hand moves slowly to her perfectly styled hair and buries his fingers in it before pulling slowly and forcing her head back. "Do it…" instead of saying anything her lips grazed his and she smirked, the grip in her hair grew tighter and he pulled harder. "Say it!"

"No…"

The taste of scotch intoxicated her and the force behind his kiss sent her body into overdrive, both of them gasping for air and tearing each other clothes from their bodies; his fast hands unzipping her dress while he bit her neck hard enough to mark her, her hands unbuttoning his shirt and pulling him for another kiss.

He lift her and slammed her against the wall, making her whimper a little at the pain in her back, slipping the dress off her shoulders and kissing his way down her breasts while her hands pulled his hair; letting her place her feet on the ground he turned her around and kissed the spot of the unseen tattoo finally getting rid of her dress and then pressing her against the wall.

"Who would've thought that this is the way you like it, Morgan." He whispered in her ear unclasping her bra with one hand and forcing her head back to lean on his chest with the other.

She freed herself from his grasp and turned around grazing his back with her nails and moaned into his ear.

"You have no idea, Mr. Stark" her words sparked his need again and this time he lift her in his arms hooking her legs around his waist and he rushed to the bedroom, throwing her to the bed, and then he pinned her hands over her head. She pulled him down with her legs as fast as she could and rolled him over so she was straddling him. "You didn't think this was going to be easy, did you?"

"I would be disappointed if you made it easy…" he said before she started kissing his neck, biting it softly, moving her hands down his body, grazing her nails and leaving red marks in his torso before unzipping his pants as fast as she could, tracing the obvious arousal with her hand making him grunt before slipping them off and throwing them off the bed.

"I would be disappointed if you didn't fight back" her voice turned into a purr in his ear, they finally got rid of their underwear; he looked directly into her eyes, pinned her against the mattress before entering her as fast and has hard as he could, her hands fisting the covers. "Fuck…"

"Such an awful word coming from Miss Uptight Assistant." He mocked her and started to move slowly, she pulled him down for a kiss, and placing her hands on his ass she forced him deeper. "Damn it" he said and bit her again. "You're so…"

"Harder… fuck, harder" she requested digging her nails on his back. "Just do it harder…" he could feel his orgasm building up and just one look at her told him that she was almost there too.

"You've been avoiding it all this time, now I want you to say it!" she pronounced it, but it didn't satisfy him. "Louder!" He pinned her hands against the mattress and thrust harder, pounding harder into her, their breathing and moans, the grunts and whimpers filling the room and escalating with each second that passed. "Scream it for me, Elizabeth!"

"TONY!" the clench of her muscles around him drove him to the edge and before she was able to ride her orgasm down he laced their fingers together and reached his own.


	22. Open Wounds

Cassidy was entrenched in the bathroom, taking all the time in the world to put on her dress and makeup for the party. Whatever she said, regardless of how many tantrums she could conjure, the girl knew she had to attend the event. Elizabeth was making sure she did anyways as she nagged the hell out of her with her insistence.

"Cassidy Pandora Ryan, I want you ready in the next few minutes or I will drag your ass to that party myself."

The publicist ignored the girl as she finished applying her eye shadows "Can you stop it?" said Cassidy as she made her way out of the bathroom and to her room so she could put on her heels. "I know I have to go, but that doesn't mean I want to, so back off a little, Elizabeth."

"Stop it with that attitude Cass, I know you have been sulking this past week but clear your head and focus, will you?" Cassidy rolled her eyes at her friend, again, she was right but again that didn't mean she had to like it. She sent a exasperate look at Jessica who simply rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah." she said finally gathering her purse and walking out the door. The town car was already waiting for the three of them outside the building.

Gotham Hall's combination between the style of Manhattan's Broadway with the sophistication and tradition of New York's finest architecture made it one of the Stark Enterprises board favorite places and it could easily accommodate all the guests, so it was naturally the perfect place for the Stark Phone release party.

The party didn't start until seven o'clock but Cassidy and Elizabeth had to be there at least two hours earlier and because Jess was invited to the event she tagged along with them. They made it to the place on time, the hall already filling with people of the press and other guests that loved to be early. The moment they got out of the town car, Cassidy excused herself to go and make sure everything was going according to plan.

It took her about an hour to ensure that everything was not less than perfect: that the live entertainment was playing constantly, the food service had everything ready for the time that it would serve the snacks, the bar service was always on their feet for the amount of drinks that there would have to be make, for the waiters to know the sit charts by heart so to prevent confusions when the guests began to fill the place. You know the little things that make an event a real success.

Like clockwork, the party started at seven. The presentation of the campaign and the new phone model was the first thing on the agenda, and then it came the time to thank everyone involved with the release process and the board. While Tony gave his speech, because who knows what threat Elizabeth conjured to made him go, Cassidy turned to look around.

The guests were the usual bunch: people from the media, show business, some investors, the board of Stark Enterprises, a few guests on the outside and hiding in plain sight there they were: The Avengers.

That hasn't been in the agenda. Not that she was amazed by it; it would have to be obvious that if Stark had to suffer he was going to drag everyone with him. So you had Black Widow, who looked beautiful in her simple black dress and was making every men looked at her with lust, dear Captain America who looked so out of place Cassidy almost felt sorry for him, the loudly Nordic God who couldn't shut up for five minutes, except Doctor Banner who had wisely decided to avoid the place, then there was Clint, looking all suave in his simple dark grey suit and, finally, to her eternal surprise, there was Phil.

Again, it shouldn't be a surprise, as the Avengers handler he was supposed to go with them to wherever place that band of misfits were.

The thunderous applause was the indication that took her away from her wandering and brought her back to reality, she took the stage again. More thanks to Mr. Stark and finally the master of ceremonies gave carte blanche to the guests so they could go to enjoy the party.

Once she thanked all those who approached her she moved gracefully toward the bar and sat down and asked for a glass of wine.

"Keep them coming Bob, I want to drink till I pass out." Cassidy said to the bartender.

"Bad day? It's going to be hard for you to get drunk with wine, Miss Ryan." commented the young man.

She smiled at him, he was one of the usual bartenders the company hired for this kind of events, ironically he was the same one she was talking to the day she met Agent Philip J. Coulson. "Bad month actually."

He smiled sympathetically at her. "As you wish then, miss."

She drank for about half an hour, trying not to get drunk that early in the evening, after all she still was "on the clock" and there were people that still wished to talk to her about future projects. Cassidy had no idea where Jess or Elizabeth could be and she was making up her mind to go and look for them when someone sat in the stool next to her. She looked up and framed an eyebrow the moment she realized who it was.

"Are you going to throw another bottle at my head if I ask you something?" Clint said looking at her.

She sipped her wine, considering the question. "Maybe not, I do not have one right now but I can always throw the wine glass for good measure. Yet, I fear for my life if Natasha finds out I did."

Clint laughed nervously, not looking at her anymore but with his eyes on the dance floor "I will take the chance." The girl nodded in a gesture that meant _Go ahead_."So you and Coulson? Really?"

She let the glass over the bar; not wanting to break anymore objects that would send her back to medical to get stiches. Why was he asking her that now? As if the rumor of their relationship hadn't spread around SHIELD like wild fire. Those people were worse than high school girls when it came to gossip. Besides, apparently he already knew. "Not anymore but yeah, we used to." she finally said. "But you already know that."

He laughed again. "Yeah, the whiskey bottle said as much." he looked back at her again "Look, I really didn't mean..."

"Agent Barton" interrupted a voice behind him, as they both turned they saw Agent Coulson standing next to them.

"Sir." Clint answered more out of habit than anything else, and seeing that his handler was looking at the girl next to him he decided to take his leave "I will talk to you later." he said to Cassidy and then he hit the dance floor.

The girl followed him with her eyes until she lost him in the sea of bodies. Not looking at the agent still standing next to her, she took her glass again and drained the content, asking for another. Coulson asked for a soda, sitting in the same stool that Clint was just seconds ago.

"Good work with the party and the campaign," the man commented, "I must say I am impressed by it."

She smiled. "Thank you; it's what I do for a living."

She was finally enjoying her drink as she watched the other guests to pass the time, despite being a bit late there were many people, the place was full of life and she couldn't avoid getting in that environment: sensual couples dancing to the rhythm of the music, people eating and drinking at the tables, and a few in the bar seemed to be using the same strategy as her.

"The place is secure. You never know when one of the villains would want to crash this kind of things, especially if you have all the Avengers in one place." he said all business like.

That made her laugh. "Aren't you a little over dramatic? I haven't predicted any disaster for tonight."

"One can never be sure."

"Yes, there are some things in life you are never sure off." she said looking at him for the first time since he joined her at the bar.

The irony wasn't lost to her, they were sitting at a bar, talking about work; her work, just like the night they first met.

The girl let her mind wander in the memory. It had been one of the first parties she had attended since Pepper named her the new Creative Director. While everyone had fun, she had taken a seat at the bar and was lost in the tablet she carried with to gather ideas for future projects. As a good creative person you must never let go of an idea even if is the silliest one you can came up with, you can always use it in the future.

Like tonight, that day he had approached to the bar and asked for a soda, then he had seen her working and for some reason that picked his interest. The rest was history.

"You are right." he added in a low voice. No one of them said a word for the longest time, even Bob, who kept refilling her glass, was looking all nervous at the obvious discomfort and awkward atmosphere surrounding them.

"We are going to spend the rest of our natural lives like this, aren't we?" said Cassidy in a low sigh. Phil said nothing which was all the confirmation she needed.

It was the first time they talked about something not SHIELD related. She hadn't apologized for her words and he hadn't brought up the subject, so for the past two weeks they acted as if they didn't know each other outside of work. It all boiled down to this: awkward moments full of empty talk because no one would budge. Oh and her going down the same path of people that used alcohol to avoid their problems. Time passed in silence, neither of them uttering a single word.

At least until Phil let out a tired sigh "Are we going to keep this up forever?" he asked, his eyes never leaving Cassidy.

The girl turned around slowly "Most likely."

He shook his head "This is childish."

"It's just appropriate."

"No, in the grand scale of things this shouldn't even be an issue."

That picked her interest "Issue? I have no idea what are you talking about."

"Don't play dumb, I am too old for that."

She could feel her anger starting to rise again but took a couple of minutes to calm herself and then talked "And because you are more seasoned than me you feel the need of patronizing me?" the she laughed "Oh yeah, I was the one who point out you are an old man and I'm nothing more than a child."

The man felt silence, the girl had, if vaguely, hit the nail on the head "I guess we both fell prey to our impulses._" You giving into your anger and me by pretending I got things covered_ was implied.

Cassidy understood, of course she did, on an intellectual level. They weren't perfect, actually way too far from it. And the sad thing was this had to be the first time they had talked about the big alien pink elephant that was always in the room.

"All I wanted was a reason, you know? It wasn't going to change anything. I just want to know." She looked away for a moment, gathering her thoughts. Coulson looked at her again, for a long time. He seemed as if he was trying to find a way to say things he didn't want to, that made Cassidy smile "Never mind, I know you are never going to anyways. Sorry I even asked."

"That's not..."

"What kind of host does not enjoy her own party?" this time Clint was the one who interrupted, he approached them, took Cassidy by the wrist and drag her to the dance floor. The girl was too amazed by his antics that it wasn't until they were in the middle of said dance floor that she came to her senses.

"What are you doing?"

"Saving you from another pity trip and Tasha's wrath." He took her hand in his and put the other around her waist as "_**Ek din teri raahon mein**_" started playing on in the background "You could cut the tension between the two of you with a knife."

"And you wanted to play the Knight in shining armor, I see."

"I am sorry" he said all of sudden; Cassidy smiled her first real smile in days as she relaxed in his hold.

"Me too."

He spins her around a couple of times, then settled for a simple back and forth "We are both pretty messed up."

"You are a mess Barton, I am just normal."

He looked down at her with a raised eyebrow "Should I take that as an insult?"

She didn't met his eyes, instead she rested her head against his chest to muffle her words. "No, messed up is a good thing."

"In what universe?" he asked her playfully.

"Mine" she answered bitterly.

This was the reason she didn't want to come, she was sick of the entire self pity journey, especially because all that was happening was her fault.

He held her close as they moved around the dance floor "Sorry about been right," he whispered in her ear, "have I known..."

"Don't be. I brought this on myself." this time she did look up "I wanted to play with fire and got burned. You were right after all."

"So did you." he laughed. As the music increased in intensity so did their movements, he turned her in his arms until her back was pressing against his front. "We are both screwed."

"We are something but I am pretty sure "screwed" currently is not one of them." They both laugh at that and then kept dancing. His movements were graceful and fluid, he knew where to and when to turn to made the dance even more interesting. Cassidy had to admit she was completely charmed by the man.

"Where did you learn to dance like this?" asked the girl enjoying herself maybe a little bit too much as he drew their bodies together once more.

"A dancing monkey has its secrets."

She blushed for that. "Oh god, I am so sorry about that."

He simply laughed it off. "We are even, dirty little secret."

Then, the song ended. As they applauded the band, Cassidy dared to look toward the bar where Phil was in the same place, watching with a frown. It did not take a genius to see that he was not happy. The girl looked away, unconsciously holding on Clint's sleeve. The man looked down at her "What's wrong?"

She let go of him immediately, taking a step back "Nothing, I have business to attend to. Thanks for the dance." She was about to make her way out of the dance floor when he grabbed her by the waist to stopped her.

"That's bullshit, Cass. What's wrong?" he pressed.

"I just want to go, Clint." she whispered.

He debated for a few moments, looking around the room and then returned his attention to the girl who looked like a hunted animal "Where are you going?"

"I don't know." he tightened his hold clearly not buying her lies. She finally gave in "Home."

"All right, I will take you." He said with conviction.

She turned around in his arms to face him "Are you sure?" there was a heavy implication in her question she was sure he was not going to miss.

**_I don't want to be alone there but what other option do I have?_**

**_If we do this we are going to open a whole new can of worms we are not going to want to deal with later._**

**_Are you insane?_**

"Hell, why not?" he answered as he offered her his arm so they could made their escape in the most unobtrusive way possible.

After excusing herself with her boss claiming not feeling well, they left Gotham Hall. They took a taxi back to her place, the entire trip in complete silence. It was as if one of them said a single word the reality of the situation was going to settle and neither of them wanted that. No matter that she was leaning against his side or that his hand was caressing her thigh. They didn't want to deal with it, at least not that night.

Once they made it inside the apartment, things turn awkward. One thing was to think of what they possibly where going to do and another entirely to face the moment.

"You can still go, you know." the girl said leaving her purse and shoes next to the sofa in the living room, then turning around to face him. "I'll be fine on my own." All that was nothing more than a reckless idea born on the spur of the moment. Yet what could she do? She gave him an option and he decided to take it.

"I told you I would come." he said shortening the distance between them to within just a few inches of her "You want to lick your wounds, so do I."

She looked up, trapped now between the sofa and him but said nothing, just let her eyes travel over his body, he had taken off his coat and tie the moment he entered the apartment, two buttons of his shirt collar were open to display part of his skin. Saying she didn't find him attractive would be lying. Yes, she was in love with someone else but she was just human and Clint was there, he was willing and he was hot as hell.

"But I can go." he added.

"No" she said quickly, making up her mind at that moment, slowly reaching up, letting her hands traveled over his torso. He smiled when she stood on tiptoe to move closer.

Clint dipped his head to claim her lips in a deep, long kiss. Cassidy actually purred into it as he lifted her in his arms, her legs closing around his waist as he moved towards her bedroom.

This was going to come back to bite their asses, sooner rather than later, but for now, they couldn't give a damn about that.


End file.
